Karen Stein, LifeChange Fitness

Change cannot be compelled through a doctor's recommendation, a persistent partner, or societal norms. True change only comes from within, through self-love and self-acceptance. When you view yourself as a whole and complete person, with the desire for self-improvement, you can truly achieve your goals.

How are those New Year resolutions going? Improving fitness and nutrition are two top resolutions, but by the end of March, half of those who say they have set goals have quit. Are you ready to throw in the towel?

The biggest problem I have seen as a trainer and nutrition coach with goal setting is that people tend to be too ambitious in their goals- go big or go home. People believe they must commit to working out in a gym seven days a week and eat a restrictive diet that deprives them of the foods they love. We can convince ourselves to do anything for a short period, which is why researchers only see about an 8% quitting rate for resolutions in January. However, these extreme fitness and nutrition habits, combined with the business of everyday life, are not sustainable in the long term.

If this sounds like you, I encourage you to abandon the all-or-nothing mentality and choose progress over perfection. This means looking at how to eat and move in a way that works for you and your life at this moment in time.

For example, if you can't get to the gym seven days a week, how much time can you afford: three or four days? No, it's not seven, but it's better than nothing, and it's what you can do right now. And, if you can't find that hour to make it to the gym, how about a half-hour? Can't make it to the gym at all? What ways can you find to get you moving more during the day? Perhaps a walk at lunch. If your goal is to improve your fitness, something is always better than nothing. And, when life becomes less complicated, you can always increase your effort. That is life, and that is how you make fitness sustainable.

Now, for nutrition. I do not hold to a philosophy of good and bad foods, but look at food on a continuum of eating less to eating more. Again, the reason why many diets fail is that they are too restrictive. If most of your diet comprises healthy foods, indulging in your favorite treat occasionally is OK. However, even with this approach, overhauling your entire diet at once can be overwhelming. This is where I suggest you work on one meal at a time until you feel confident to move on to the next meal. You can start with breakfast or the most problematic meal for you. Over time, the goal is to find a way to eat that nourishes your body for health and performance and is sustainable for life.

So, don't give up on those New Year Resolutions for fitness and nutrition. Just make the adjustments you need, choose progress over perfection, and make 2024 your year for true change!

Need some help? Reach out and let's talk through it!

https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/new-years-resolutions-statistics/ #:~:text=The%20Forbes%20Health%2FOne%20Poll%20survey%20found%20that%20the,last%20three%20months%20and%2013%25%20last%20four%20months

Hi, it's been a hot minute since I have been on here, so let me use this opportunity to reintroduce myself.

I am an 11-year certified personal trainer and nutrition coach dedicated to empowering women 40 and over to live and age well!

I understand it can be hard to start doing this thing called exercise when you haven’t done it for a while or, perhaps, have never done it before. That is my story. Growing up, I was never involved in athletics, and any attempt at exercise was only half-hearted. My sedentary lifestyle finally caught up to me in my 40s when I was diagnosed with cancer, and the suppressive drug therapy I was placed on resulted in osteopenia. As someone with a Master’s in gerontology, I knew that disease and dysfunction are not part of the normal aging process, and I was determined to reverse my course. I walked into a local gym and signed up with a personal trainer that week. It was the best decision I ever made, and I soon found myself in the best shape of my life.

In fact, the experience was so rewarding and life-changing that I knew I wanted to become a personal trainer myself so that I could assist and encourage others in improving their health and well-being, no matter what age they are.

Today, there is nothing more fulfilling to me than helping women experience the transformative power of exercise and nutrition to improve their quality of life, whether your goal is to lose weight, gain strength and mobility, improve bone density, get off medication, or to stay active and healthy with chronic diseases like Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s.

As your coach, I will always start with you where you are and build an individualized program based on your goals, fitness history, and abilities and build from there. My approach to nutrition is a sustainable, habit-based program powered by Precision Nutrition. By recognizing the unhealthy habits that haven’t served you well throughout your lives and replacing them with healthier habits that will, you can say goodbye to dieting and an unhealthy relationship with food for good!

And let’s be real. For many of us, what we do in the gym is so we can live a quality life outside the gym. You have items you want to check off your bucket lists. You have grandchildren you want to be able to chase after and climb around on the floor with. In fact, you will have newfound adventures awaiting you and a sense of empowerment from your new journey of health and fitness. You will embark on things you never thought you could do!

I can’t wait for us to start! I provide both individual and group training at Freedom Fitness in Cottleville, MO, and online training.

Be assured that I work hard to stay informed and to provide the best, most complete training for all of my clients.

My current certifications include:

National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)
• Certified Personal Trainer
• Senior Fitness Specialist
• Weight Loss Specialist
• Fitness Nutrition

Precision Nutrition
• PN Level 1 Certified
• Specialist in Change Psychology (In progress)

Girls Gone Strong
• Certified Women’s Coaching Specialist

Great article from Girls Gone Strong.

"When it comes to fat loss, exercise seems to get a lot of the attention. Often, when a person’s progress stalls, one of the first things they do is increase exercise duration, frequency, or intensity— sometimes all three!

While training is important, to bust through plateaus we need to look at four other things first. This is what I call the Hierarchy of Fat Loss:

Nutrition
Sleep
Stress
Daily movement
Training

Each of these factors affect the other, and in order to get the best results possible it’s important to optimize each of these areas."

The Hierarchy of Fat Loss - Girls Gone Strong When it comes to fat loss, exercise seems to get a lot of the attention. Often, when a person’s progress stalls, one of the first things they do is increase...

A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power but its persistence.

If you have set new goals for 2022, make sure they are SMART goals. Read more at https://mylcfitness.com/a-smart-approach-to-reaching-your-goals/

Then once you have set your SMART goals, be consistent. This is the key to long-term success.

As the wise folks at Precision Nutrition teach, "Consistency is present-focused and forgiving.

It means focusing on your personal daily plan of small actions. And, it also means knowing that you won't always meet the plan. In those times, focusing on Consistency means being strong on forgiveness.

Focusing on Consistency, you can get restarted as soon as possible. You can be back on-plan immediately, in this moment, without any moral regrets and compensation for whatever happened in the past. With a focus on Consistency, you're always starting with a clean slate."

For many of us the holidays are as stressful as they are fun. The month between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day are filled with decorating, baking, shopping, office parties and family obligations. Add the unrealistic expectations we tend to place on ourselves this time of year, and our stress levels can go through the roof. Here are some suggestions for rethinking how you manage the holidays so you can maintain some degree of sanity.

Avoiding Holiday Stress How you manage the holidays so you can maintain some degree of sanity? Here are some ideas.