Healthy Forever Fitness Motivation

Changing Bad Habits for Good Why is it so hard to make changes? The intentions are there, but the idea of giving something up or starting something new seems daunting and basically takes just too much effort. We really want to improve ourselves or stop bad habits ruining our way forward, but this seems to remove us from our comfort zone......and we believe we can be happier staying put! You will be pleased to know that this in fact natural human behaviour towards change. Even the most dedicated and focused athletes have to contemplate and plan for any changes made to their current programmes or regimes. There are five stages to successful behavioural change that we all have to go through before we can state we have achieved a complete habit change. Pre-contemplation This stage is where there is no intention of change. We are unaware of any issues or problems that we need to deal with or change. Possibly, at this point we are in a state of denial Contemplation This is the stage where we

Mindful, Relaxing Breathing One of the major goals of mindfulness is to silence the internal chatter that continues inside our heads all day  and every day. Internal silence helps to nurture and restore our inner peace. Mindfulness helps to strengthen our focus to help smooth the pathway towards improved decision making skills. Mindfulness breathing brings us back to the present moment. By focusing on the breath, the mind will remain focused on the action of breathing. The mind has a habit of jumping from one distraction to another.  The discipline of breathing and focus will eventually calm the mind with practice. Mindful breathing is a good way to relax and an antidote to restlessness, anxiety and overthinking. Putting aside a few minutes a day to practice mindful breathing, will give you clarity and the tools to deal with stress and anxiety. With practice it will help to bring you back to the present moment and focus on the task to hand, instead of the internal chatter that sends

  Overeating! Why Can't We Stop this Destruction? Overeating - Why do we do this? We all do it? Eat until we can eat no more. Is this a bad habit or is there more to it than we realise? There can be many reasons that we over-eat.  Food can be a comfort for emotional issues such as a negative body image, stress, anger and boredom so we turn to food for consolation. Overeating can be habitual too.  We tend to live a sedentary lifestyle in our modern day life, working all day (perhaps in an office) and then our evenings are spent in front of the TV snacking . We blame food for being the addiction ......but maybe it's the 'eating' that has become the addiction? Overeating - Thoughts on Food Food .......where does your mind wonder when this word is mentioned? Food has become a profitable  consumer product. There are adverts everywhere you look..... tantalising T.V commercials, teasing magazine articles, tempting pop-up online adverts .....you cannot avoid the sights, sou

  Challenging Yourself Can Lead to Your Own Personal Growth Rediscover 'you' by challenging yourself to change.  These challenges do not have to take a lifetime. Challenges can take place for just 3 to 5 days to acquire a 'taste' , or you could set yourself a 30 day challenge.......it's your personal growth challenge and for you to decide. Setting challenges will help to increase your own self-esteem , create belief in yourself and build upon your knowledge for all that interests you .  Challenge your Habits A challenge can be the  motivational tool to set you up for a small change or equally a whole  lifestyle change .  In my private facebook group  Healthy Forever Fitness Motivation Private Group we are presently in the middle of a '5 Day Challenge' . An introduction to building healthy habits . The challenge is for a short period of time, but with a 'lifetime' change in mind. The challenge is the motivational tool...... the habit changes

  Social Media Social Media is now a big influence in all our lives.....whether it's uniting with friends or posting photos of amazing places we have visited. We all have a least one social media account....even the most 'technophobic ' among us will have at least some form of 'chat' app on their phone. There are many negatives associated with social media.......but lets look at the positive side of communal connection. Support from a 'Like Minded' Group on Social Media Back in the day if you were studying hard or had a great interest in an unusual subject......life could be very lonely. Frustration and lack of information could be very de-motivating and depressing for many. With the rise of 'group' media, like-minded people have found valuable support and knowledge to help them through their most difficult times. The younger generation have a support group to turn to during exam times and those who are retired can fire up their interests and

What is the Importance of Goal Setting? Good question? We all have goals for many different reasons. They can range from a 'small' habit change to a total 'life' change. But why do some of us have the motivation to see our goals through and some of us......well, we just can't seem to get started ? We need to look at our goals and break them down to manageable segments, find our stimulus and never see any part of our journey as a failure.  Goal Setting -  Where do I start? "Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing and that is NOT why we are here." Mark Twain The first thing you should do is write in your diary or journal the goal you wish to achieve . It doesn't matter if it's a huge goal such as booking the holiday of your dreams, buying a house or leaving your job and travelling the world? Everything is manageable. It maybe a smaller goal for example you want to achieve a healthier lifestyle, exercise more or lose we

Movements we need to think about as we age - Functional Movements 'Functional' is often used in the world of fitness these days - the 'buzz' word of the moment. The actual meaning of the word functional, 'designed to be practical and useful, rather than attractive' . This being the ideal description for our ageing bodies......from young and attractive to moving on in years......So yes, we really need our bodies to be practical and useful.  The term 'functional training' is just that....... 'fine tune' certain moves, so that our bodies will become 'practical and useful' long into our latter years. Functional training is a must as we get older, as it is designed to train and develop our muscles to make it easier and safer to perform everyday activities such as reaching the top shelf, getting out of the bath or chair with ease and the ability to carry our weekly shop without issues. Movements we need to think about as we age - What i