Stepping it Up! Nov 15, 2010

One of the things that I spoke to the TOPS group about was Stepping It Up. I feel that this is one of the things that I have been doing that has lead me to where I am today. I am quite a competitive person and I love to challenge myself. In order to keep making progress, I need to challenge myself and I do this by Stepping it Up.

When it comes to exercising, I try to do better everytime I am at the gym. If I am on the elipitical, I will warm-up, and go at a pace where it is comfortable for me. Then I step it up for one minute to the point that I am out of my comfort zone, but I am still being safe. You don't want to push yourself so hard that you are not safe. So I take myself out of my comfort zone a few times within the 20 minutes. Eventually, the "out of comfort zone" level will become comfortable and your normal. Then you can work on stepping it up some more. As you become more fit you need to step it up some more so you keep making progress.

I do the same when it comes to my nutrition. I find it is easier when I make small changes. For me, if I was to totally cut a food from my diet, I feel deprived. When there is something that I am eating that I probably shouldn't be eating, I cut it out slowly. Before I started taking charge of my nutrition, I was eating chips and pop almost every night. So first, I cut it back to a few times a week. Then, I had them only on weekends. Then I went to only once a week. Then about once a month. Now I hardly have chips and I don't enjoy them as much as I used to. I find them really really salty. I am constantly trying to make small changes to improve my diet. I still treat myself, occasionally. Now, I find that when I do treat myself, like last Saturday night, I don't enjoy the food as much as I used to and my body feels horrible afterwards. Probably because it is not getting the nutritious food that it is used to getting.

So, I would like to put out a challenge to all of you that read my blog...and I know that you ARE reading. In fact there were 68 people on my blog at the same time the other day. I can see how many people are reading it at any given time, but I have no idea who you are...uness you comment.

My challenge to you is to take your exercise or your nutrition and Step It Up for one week. All I ask is that you do it for one week only. And then see how you feel at the end of the week. I bet you will feel so good and you will see the results that you will want to continue doing it.

For those of you who really like to challenge yourselves...Step Up your exercise and your nutrition for one week!

If you would be so kind to let me know how you did, I would really appreciate it!

Have fun Stepping It Up!