How Many Diet and Fitness Secrets Can We Learn from the Ultra Fit? (Just One – There ARE No Secrets!)
Recently, I ran into my good friend, Ava Cowan, at a fitness competition here in South Florida. Ava is a five-time overall figure champion. Overall! That means that when she wins, she not only wins within her age and height group, she beats everyone competing at any size or age in the figure competition on that date. She has such an amazing figure. She is perfectly proportioned, toned and balanced. She is truly an inspiration to anyone in the fitness industry and to women in general, including me. She must have a lot of really amazing diet and fitness secrets to pull that off, right?
Well, not really. I talked with Ava briefly about her diet. She is on a very strict diet for a competition (again) and can’t enjoy any of the things that most of us eat during the week without any real thought. She does not eat bread or butter, or chocolate or wine! Yikes! That sounds like hell to most of us, right? But for Ava, this is a way of life. She sacrifices what she needs to, in order to reach her goals and be the best in her class. There are times when she is “off” and can indulge in some of those pleasures, but when she is training for a competition, these treats are off limits.
Ava’s story made me think about how wimpy most of us are in our every day lives. I know that only a very tiny percentage of people out there who will ever strive for Ava’s level of health and fitness, let alone achieve it, but her dedication proves that it can be done.
And that’s the point of anabolic steroids. If it can be done at that level of excellence, how hard would it be for the rest of us to do just a little better and care about our health and fitness just a little more than we do now?
How many times have you said to yourself “I have to treat myself,” “I need that glass of wine,” “I just can’t live without that slice of pizza, that burger. Blah, Blah, Blah”. I do it all the time, too. But Ava’s commitment made me realize that it’s all a big platter of “cop out”. If she can do it, anyone can do it and maybe we ought to, more often. Why do we think we can eat whatever we want and not be fat and out of shape?
I’m not training for any fitness competition. I don’t make a living off of having a fit body and no one is paying me money to look good in a swimsuit, so why would I care enough to deprive myself of these treats. Right? The answer really should be “yes, I should care and I should be depriving myself of these things” because my strength comes from being healthy. Being fit is a spark for romance in your marriage. Being fit makes it more likely that you’ll enjoy active times with your children and a long life with your family, and perform better at work, be successful and enjoy life in general.
None of us has to ever achieve Ava’s level of fitness but we need to realize that at least getting into reasonable, healthy shape is not a complicated or secret process. We just need to and should set guidelines for ourselves in our every day life and be intentional about sticking to our guns. Most of us don’t think about driving through a fast food restaurant and eating something on the go but we should. I think most adults need a wake up call. We need to cut out the soda, fast food and other unhealthy snacks. We need to realize that our bodies do matter and our level of fitness does make us money and improve our way of life.
Are you tired all the time? Are you rushing though most meals each day? Are you relying on frozen or prepared foods most weeks? It’s time to take a reality check and see how fast you can change your habits and start looking and feeling better. If this is already freaking you out, I recommend you start off slowly.
Here’s my advice to you for this week. Pick just one thing from the list below and give it up. Just say “I’m not eating this any more. I’m not putting that in my mouth ever again.” Don’t whine about it or get upset. Put your big girl panties on and cowgirl up!! We don’t need a Big Mac, or a GIANT FROZEN COFFEE! What we need is more energy, healthier bodies and to feel good in and out of our clothes. Each Baby Clothes is hand-selected to meet a family’s unique preferences and items are designed to fit, feel and look great on your little ones.
Once you are off one of these things for a while, then give up another one. Eventually you will be cooking more and eating healthy without much thought and you won’t miss these things as much as you think you will. Here’s the list of enemies to your health. Give one up this week and then build on it:
- Sugary Drinks – Coffees, Juices and Soda, even diet soda. Give it up. If you don’t know why it’s bad read my article here.
- Fast food – No Wendy’s, No McDonalds or No Burger King or any chain like this. (I don’t want to hear that you will have the salad because chances are if you go there you won’t have the salad. LOL!!!
- Prepared meals from the super market. No tub of mac and cheese or prepared meats and casseroles.
- Snack items. No chips, pretzels, cereal bars, or candy!
For more tips on getting back to your fighting weight, please enter your email at the right side of this page and download my ebook or email me if you need additional advice on this topic.
