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GoodLife iHeartExercise Healthy Heart Challenge

Join The #iHeartExercise Challenge With GoodLife Fitness!

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Around this time last year is when I decided that I was tired of feeling sore, tired and lazy all the time and decided to something about it. I teamed up with GoodLife Fitness to give myself the jumpstart I needed and while there are still days where I don’t feel like picking my butt up off the couch, overall I am much more active than I was. I definitely feel a lot better than I did 365 days ago.

Well, February is Heart Month all across Canada and GoodLife, in partnership with the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, will be running a 29 Day Healthy Heart Challenge on Facebook throughout the month. This will consist of a daily challenge, along with exercise tips, recipe ideas, suggestions for reducing stress and getting better sleep, and advice for preventing heart disease and stroke.

If you are looking for a boost to get you started and don’t want to jump all in right away, GoodLife’s Healthy Heart Challenge could be exactly what you are looking for. Simply head over to the GoodLife Facebook Page and get started! I promise you that you will feel better about yourself after only a few challenges. You really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking small steps towards a healthier you.

You can share these daily tips with your social network through Facebook and Twitter all month long using the #iHeartExercise hashtag. And, if you have a friend whose heart you care for, bring them in during GoodLife’s Open House. From February 15 – 19 every Canadian has the opportunity to work on their heart health in their local GoodLife club!

PS – It’s going to be hard but that’s what makes it worth doing!!

Fitbit Charge

Lost Fitbits and the Mysteries of the Mind

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The mind is a strange thing, isn’t it? For instance, I know that McDonald’s is extremely unhealthy yet I will still stop in for a Happy Meal whenever the mood strikes. I’ve been finding my battle with exercise to be equally as mystifying even though it should be pretty straight forward. It seems I get bursts of motivation and then slowly watch it fade away.

As an example, earlier this year I partnered with GoodLife Fitness and they even brought a camera crew to my house so I could share the story of my fitness issues. After that I started going to my local GoodLife on a regular basis but in recent months have seen that slip down to about once every couple of weeks. What happened, you ask? The truth is that I have no earthly idea. I loved going to the gym, with my music blasting and sweat pouring down my face. It gave me a new confidence that I had been sorely lacking but now I’ve let that feeling slip away for no good reason.

Then last week I purchased a Fitbit Charge in hopes of giving myself a boost and lo and behold I was exercising more than I ever had before. I joined a bunch of step challenges with my friends and the motivation to out-step everyone had me outside or at the gym walking at every free moment. What is that about? Does my brain really need competition in order to convince me to get off the couch? Is being healthy for my family not enough?

Just when I had finally convinced myself to stop beating myself up over matters of the brain that I could not comprehend, the unthinkable happened. My precious new Fitbit fell right off my wrist while I was out, never to be found again. I was definitely disappointed but wasn’t prepared for what came next. For the next two days I barely lifted a finger and was feeling really depressed about my loss. I’m admitting this to you all because even I found it completely ridiculous that a tiny black band that simply told me how many steps I did that day could cause such an emotional roller coaster in my brain.

I tried to contact support to see if anything could be done but apparently their warranty doesn’t cover stupidity so I did they only thing I could think of to do. I dropped $170 on a brand new Fitbit with a watch band this time instead of the band with the snaps, which, had I researched first, I would have seen a number of people having the same issue with them falling off. Oh yeah, because I was so emotionally distraught, I also got irrationally upset that Fitbit wouldn’t replace the band that “I” lost. Oh brain, you crazy kat!

The lesson here, people, is that the brain is a powerful thing and sometimes you need to give in to its craziness in order to get yourself on the right path. Am I happy to have wasted almost $150? Absolutely not. Am I going to walk, instead of drive, my butt all the way to GoodLife this afternoon to get a workout in? You bet your ass I am!!

GoodLife Begin DadFit

Project #DadFit – New Beginnings

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Here we are again at this old familiar territory. Things were looking up for a while. I ran my first official 5K, was working out and running 5-6 days a week and even started eating healthier. I had never felt better in my life, mentally and physically, but I have let it all slip through my fingers. Now I sit here on the couch watching Real Housewives of (insert city here) because I’m too lazy to bother looking for the remote control, and I am not proud of myself at all.

All is not lost, however. I have faltered and regained footing before and I know that I can do it again. In fact, my new beginning starts today! My family were excited to welcome a video crew from GoodLife Fitness to our house this month so that I could share my story and struggles with staying fit. It’s not always easy to talk about our shortcomings but I do so with the hope that it will inspire me to work harder and possibly strike a chord in others who are dealing with the same struggles.

The GoodLife Fitness video is about Beginnings and I am really happy with how it turned out. Today is Monday, April 27th and on top of being my daughter’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Baby) this is the day that I begin my journey to a better me.