Category: Exercise

How Being Grateful Leads To Weight Loss And Much More

How Being Grateful Leads To Weight Loss And More - Jennifer Ledford - Certified Personal Trainer - ledford0716-8084

It’s no secret that good nutrition and exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight.  However, diet and exercise are only part of the equation.  There’s more to health and weight loss than simply eating well and taking a power walk.  Having a positive attitude is just as important  to your health and weight management as shopping in the produce section is.

One of the simplest ways to stay positive is to maintain an attitude of gratitude.   When we give thanks it does more  than just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.  It can actually help reduce depression, improve your sleep, and cause you to be less critical of yourself and your body.

Research shows us that proper sleep, a healthy self image, and a healthy mindset can all lead to realistic weight loss that you can maintain long term. If you are critical of yourself or your circumstances, you end up working from a place of opposition.  The brain fights to be right so it’s very difficult to complain about something and have success in the same area.  It’s like trying to ride a bike against the wind.  You will struggle!

How To Stay Positive By Being Grateful

So, what are some ways to give thanks? Here are seven simple tips.

  • Start with three things per day.  Choose three things you are grateful for each morning like your family, your friends, your great job, the fact that you graduated from school, your awesome dog, or simply being able to get out of bed that day.  Make sure to announce them out loud no matter how simple they are.  Do your best to mix it up and name something new each day to help keep yourself present and avoid going on autopilot.
  • Include your body when giving thanks.  This one can be a toughie for some people.  Your body listens to what you say so it’s critical that you point out the things you are grateful for and love about it.  I’m forty six years old and there are things on me that jiggle but I can still find plenty of things about my body to be grateful for like my strong legs that help me walk my dogs or my great hair (thank you John Ryan at Festoon salon).  🙂
  • Keep the gratefulness going.  Be someone that looks on the bright side and finds the silver lining in every situation.  Grateful people focus on blessings, being fortunate, and abundance no matter what the circumstances.  Less grateful people focus on burdens and complaints.
  • Thank others.  When we focus on others, it feeds our soul in a healthy way.  Paying someone a specific compliment or thanking them can lift your spirits way higher than any cup of coffee ever will.  Don’t worry, I’m not even suggesting that you give up coffee. 🙂
  • Give praise.  Personally, I like to thank God every morning for another day.  I realize that not everyone has the same spiritual beliefs that I do and I want you to know that you are safe with me and always welcome on this page whether we have the same beliefs or not.  However if you do believe in God, I recommend starting your day with a big thank you to our Lord and Savior!
  • Help others.  One of the best ways to learn to appreciate your own life and/or circumstances is to be of service to someone else.  Everyone has to deal with “stuff” in their lives and when we serve someone else that is experiencing a challenge, we can almost always find something about our own life that we are super grateful for.
  • Stay consistent.  Make daily gratitude a  lifetime habit.  One of the best ways to counter a negative thought is to replace it with a positive thought.  Naming something you are grateful for is one of the best weapons against negative thoughts and can instantly change your outlook which almost always impacts your outcome.  Consider gratefulness a weapon that you use for good.  🙂

The Bottomline of Being Grateful

What you think and, even more importantly, what you say about your life, your body, and your circumstances, has extreme power.  Being grateful helps you maintain your health which in turn helps you to succeed in every area of your life.  That, my friend, is called balance.

Here’s to an attitude of gratitude!

Shared with much love,
Jennifer Ledford

 

Seven Simple Ways To Boost Your Immune System

Seven Simple Ways To Boost Your Immune System - shutterstock_220442575

Nobody likes being sick.  Besides feeling crummy,  being under the weather can interrupt every aspect of your life.

One of the best ways to avoid getting sick is to boost your immune system.

The words immune boosting have been used so often for mass marketing that it’s hard to know what really works.  While it’s impossible to guarantee that you’ll never catch a cold or the flu, there are some simple steps you can take to boost your immune system and dodge as many bugs that come your way as possible. The tips I’m sharing below are my own personal immune boosting secrets. My clients can vouch for me when I tell you it’s very rare for me to even catch a cold so they’re more than just a theory.  🙂

HERE ARE SOME PROVEN TIPS TO BUILD YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

1) Vitamin D. Researchers believe that one of the reasons we catch colds during the winter months is a lack of Vitamin D. Make sure you are getting outside when the weather allows. Ask your doctor to check your Vitamin D levels. Your doctor may recommend that you take a Vitamin D supplement to help boost your immune system.

2) Eat immune boosting foods. Foods like broccoli, almonds, cabbage, beef, garlic, spinach, sweet potatoes, button mushrooms, chicken soup, shellfish, yoghurt, oats and barley, acai berry, elderberry, and grapefruit are all considered to be immune boosting foods.  Do your best to incorporate immune boosting foods into your daily diet. Look for recipes that include them and get creative with snack choices.

Variety is important when choosing foods for their nutritional value. Each food offers its own unique benefit.  Avoid buying into the marketing hype around one magic food that can do it all.  It simply doesn’t exist.

3) Get enough sleep. Per WebMD, the average adult needs 7 to 8.5 hours of sleep per night. Lack of sleep can compromise your immune system, making you more vulnerable to colds, flu, and other more serious illnesses.

4) Exercise. Moderate exercise is proven to boost the immune system.  However, high intensity exercise can temporarily lower your immune system.  Make sure you are allowing yourself forty eight hours of rest between high intensity routines and if your energy seems a bit low, it’s best to stick to moderate activity and get some rest.

Studies have also shown that thirty minutes of moderate exercise can help improve your sleep as well.  Bonus!

5) Hit the coffee shop. Coffee and tea are both rich in antioxidants. Studies have shown that they can fight off illnesses when consumed in moderation.  Too much caffeine can interrupt sleep and cause your body more harm than good. It seems that some people metabolize caffeine quicker than others. If you know it keeps you up at night, you may want to limit consumption to the morning hours.

6)  Laugh more.  Researchers have found that laughter is good medicine.  Studies show that it can actually decrease stress hormones and increase certain immune cells while activating others.  In a study conducted at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, healthy adults who watched a funny video for an hour showed significant increases in immune system activity.

Watch funny movies, take a moment to watch silly videos on social media, spend time with people that like to laugh with you, and do your best to see the comedy in life’s day to day activities.

7)  Look on the bright side.  Studies show that optimists who look to the brighter side of life have less stress which results in better health.   A classic UCLA study found that law students who began their first semester optimistic about the experience had more helper T cells mid semester, which can amplify the immune response, and more powerful natural killer cells, than students who had a more pessimistic perspective.

Start each day with an attitude of gratitude.  No matter what we are facing in life, we can all find at least one thing to be grateful for each day.  Even if it is simply waking up to a new day.

Boosting your immune system doesn’t have to be a chore.  Focus on the things you can incorporate into your day.  A little bit goes a long way!

Here’s to avoiding the cold and flu aisle this year!

With love,
Jennifer

How to Perform Mountain Climbers

How To Perform Mountain Climbers by Jennifer LedfordMy hope is that you’ve never had to recover from an injury. However, if you have had to recover from an injury you may know that it can hinder your weight loss and strength training efforts. It can even take time away from your professional and/or personal life.

It’s no secret that in order to build strength and tone the body it’s important to challenge your muscles. It’s also important to challenge your body with proper progression and to create a routine that is appropriate for you personally. Proper and safe progression is one of the best ways to prevent injuries while exercising.

Over the years I’ve helped clients build strength and tone their bodies in a way that is safe for them. Sometimes that means I need to teach a modified version of an exercise. Especially the higher intensity or high impact exercises.

In today’s video I demonstrate how to perform a popular exercise called “Mountain Climbers” without all of the impact. The modification in this video makes the exercise more accessible without removing the benefit. It’s still a challenging and advanced move that will give you great results.

I realize that you may not be ready to jump into “Mountain Climbers” just yet so I’ve included a second video. It was done for my live audience on Facebook and demonstrates how to perform a proper plank. If you are a beginner and planks are new for you, I recommend you watch the second video first. Once you can hold the plank for thirty seconds you should be ready to advance to Mountain Climbers.

I recommend watching both videos even if you are a seasoned exerciser.  It never hurts to get a refresher on good form.

Enjoy the video and make it a great week!

With Love,
Jennifer