Why I Leave Our Christmas Lights On ALL Night Long

photo-1418073067875-c5f5ba16fe75 - Christmas Lights Childhood Memories by Jennifer Ledford - Certified Personal Trainer and Healthy Lifestyle Coach

The cool thing about having your own blog is you get to share whatever you want on it.  🙂

It’s the week before Christmas and rather than sharing “ten more tips on how to avoid holiday weight gain” like almost every other health and wellness website on the internet,  I thought it would be much more fun for everyone if I shared one of my fondest Christmas memories with you.

When I was a little girl we would visit my grandparents that lived in San Francisco for Christmas. After we had spent a wonderful evening feasting, laughing, and opening presents we would make the late drive home to the Pacific coast where we lived.  As we made our way home, I remember gazing at row after row of beautiful Victorian homes all decked out for Christmas. It would take my breath away.

Making Childhood Memories With Christmas Lights

Now that I’m all grown up and we have a Victorian of our own, I love to put a tree in the window and hang lights and wreaths for the world to see. When bedtime rolls around and the practical side of me thinks I should unplug the lights I’m gently reminded of that little girl who was always blessed by the people that decided to leave their lights on late into the night.  With a smile on my face and warmth in my heart,  I stop myself and leave them on just in case there’s another man, woman, or child out there that will be just as blessed as I was.

Have yourself a VERY Merry Christmas!

Shared with love,
Jennifer

Head on over to my Facebook book and share one of your fondest Christmas memories and/or favorite traditions there

Easy ways to maintain your weight during the holidays

Easy ways to maintain weight during the holidays by Jennifer Ledford

Thanksgiving is in just a few days and all of the Christmas catalogs are showing up on my doorstop.  For many, the holiday season is a time that is spent with family and friends feasting and enjoying seasonal foods.

One of the ways I maintain my weight is I do not restrict myself.  I maintain the mindset that I can do whatever I want when I want to.  By taking restrictions off of yourself you take away the scarcity which allows you to settle into a place of free will rather than some diet having authority over you.  If I know I can eat pie anytime I want to it’s not that big of a deal for me when they show up around the weekends.  I tend to lean toward more savory foods so by allowing myself to taste a little bit of everything, I can go back for the things I really enjoy .

This holiday season I want you to enjoy yourself and enter into it with a sense of peace around food.  I want you to have fun!

In today’s video I share one simple tip on how to approach food during the holiday season without depriving yourself.  Take a moment to watch it and have a wonderful Thanksgiving no matter how you decide to spend it.

I am thankful for you!

Shared with love,
Jennifer Ledford

 

Do You Know What’s Motivating You?

Jennifer Ledford Facebook Live Video - What Is Motivating You?

Desire, it’s what drives us to achieve worthy goals like being healthy and fit.

One of the most important questions I ask a client during a consultation is “what’s motivating you to exercise or change your eating habits?”  Based on my own personal fitness journey and my 27+ plus year experience coaching others I can honestly share with you that there are some really good reasons to want to lose weight and then there are some not so good reasons.

Too often people choose to lose weight for the wrong reasons which can lead to failure and even harm them physically and emotionally.  This breaks my heart because it DOES NOT have to be this way. 

If you desire to lose weight or you simply want to maintain your current weight, you should do it for your own health and happiness reasons, not because you think it will help you achieve unrealistic goals that are oftentimes set for you by the diet industry and sadly some of the fitness gurus.

In today’s video I help you to walk through the process of discovering what your motives are regarding weight loss and exercise and how you can make them work for you instead of against you.  🙂

Take a moment to watch the video.  You don’t want to miss this!

Have a happy and healthy week!

With Love,
Jennifer