Change Fitness Change Life

I am 42. Actually, I am 42 and 7 months. Geeees, quite old, aren’t I? Frankly, very often I experience a light shock whenever I remind myself how old I am. However, I try to bounce back fast because I know all I can I do is accept and deal with it. Am I right?

 

However, guess what? Can you believe that I am fitter than ever in my life? I was leaner and prettier when I was younger (very long time ago, ha-ha) but I have never been fitter and stronger in my life (EVER!!!!) and I am very proud of my achievement. I don’t look like a super model as I was born to be a normal Asian looking girl (‘short & thick’ as per my husband’s description) but I have finally got bit of muscle on my body and my fitness level has gone up higher than ever. I often work out with 20 years juniors and I found myself keeping up with them without any problem. I feel younger, healthier, fitter and stronger than my aged people and I cannot stop appreciating my constant efforts in keeping healthy lifestyle. Besides keeping healthy body and mind, a very special prize that keeps me going is my husband’s gratitude. Simply, his like my body and fitness changes and I love the attention.

 

 

As a story teller, I feel urged to talk about how I got fitter and stronger when I get older so more and more people can enjoy this fulfilment together. I feel totally awesome so I want you to feel the same. Here are my strategies to share with you.     

 

Exercise is my meal. One of my colleges who go with me to the gym at lunch time Change fitness change life often grumbles that he doesn’t feel like to workout. My answer is simple. “Are you going to have lunch?” I stop considering exercise as a special event of the day. It became a thing I don’t like to miss (I love eating so I can’t miss a meal). Of course, sometimes I feel slack as anyone but I know that I would feel even worse if I don’t work out. Exercise became my daily habit and not many excuses can stop me doing exercise. 

 

Appropriate exercise regime is the key. I have been always active and exercising regularly whole my life. However, I didn’t think about ‘How to’ exercise and didn’t realise the importance of intelligent workout. Since I started different types of group training sessions designed by professional fitness instructors, my fitness level has been changed significantly.  These workouts can help you to build strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility. I normally combine several different types of sessions for getting balanced workout. Body Attack, Body Pump, Pilates, Yoga, Cycle, Body pump, Free style workouts, CX work, etc… There are plenty of options are available so you can mix them systematically. Cardio workouts (Body Attack and Cycle) with Strength workout (Body Pump) or with Flexibility workouts (Yoga and Pilates) could be a great mix. Try them. I am sure that you will find very efficient and effective results in a very shorter time.

 

Be conscious of eating habit. Honestly, this is the hardest part for as I am a great eater. Since I started the University, my battle on diet has never been stopped but one thing has changed is that I am more conscious on ‘what to eat’. I was always focused on ‘how much to eat’ and focused on being skinny rather than being healthy. I still think controlling food intake is very important but also ‘what to eat’ needs to be well-thought-out. Unfortunately, our modern life style (sitting most of the day) doesn’t help us to keep the right weight so we need to put extra efforts to keep it under control. Exercise alone is not good enough. You also monitor and control your eating habit. Choose healthier options and check calories whenever you eat. There is plenty of information on the web to get healthy eating habits.

 

The more you know the better you can manage. Once I became more conscious of health matters, I realised that there are plenty of useful information everywhere. All the fitness magazines, news, blogs, and apps provide valuable strategies to keep a healthy lifestyle. I agree that sometimes you would feel overwhelmed by too much information so avoid listening and applying too many options without proper investigation or common-sense. What I am trying to say is that we need know more about our health and ways to keep it as long as possible. When you are more interested in having a healthy lifestyle, I trust you will do more to achieve it as it has happened to me.     

 

Exercise definitely helped my stress level down. One of the most obvious reasons I feel fitter and healthier is the fact that I don’t get stressed easily nowadays. Certain part of my life, I felt everything around me was stressful. Ironically, nothing has been changed around me but I don’t feel the same any more. My perception blinded me to see the real picture at that time. Now I am learning how to manage my mind and trying to take situations rationally. Many times I realise that the problems were not that bad as I thought and all were solvable anyhow. Anything beyond our control doesn’t need to be worried. Simple change in my mind helped me to see the same situation differently. When I feel bit stressed out, I go for a run or do workout to sweat out all the issues in mind. When you have to think about only how to breathe in and out, how can you think about stress? It really helps so try.

 

I sleep very well and it helps my mood. 8-9 hours of sound sleep is essential for my days. I know some people have a quite serious problem with lack of sleep and that impacts their life a lot. Based on my experience, what I can recommend you to have a sound sleep is regular exercise. When your body gets tired, you will have fewer problems with sleeping. Also try to arrange your sleep at the same time every day so your body knows when to relax. Avoid caffeine intake (Coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc…) in the afternoon. One of Chinese proverb I used to hear from mum is ‘Sleep is the best medicine’ and I cannot agree more.

 

Having a great relationship with my husband keeps me healthy and happy.  Stress-free relationship relaxes me and comforts my life. As I enjoy doing my hobbies and exercises, I respect his hobbies and what he wants to do. It works perfectly and I can see both of us are getting healthier and fitter. We talk about healthy life and take action together to keep fit and healthy. It works perfectly and I am very happy with our relationship. Don’t forget that happy life starts from happy home.

 

What do you think? Not too hard to be fit and healthy even though we all are getting older, is it? Or, still too hard? It is up to you. When you don’t look after your fitness, you never can achieve healthy and happy life. Trust me when you change your fitness you can change your life, too. Don’t start later as the later could never come.