5 Tips to Stay in Shape

Happy New Year you guys!!! How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Break any of them yet? Hahaha! I heard that 35% of people who make New Year’s resolutions, break them by the end of January! And then only 23 % of anyone who makes them actually accomplish them! My Pastor at church said jokingly that many people don’t even make them so they don’t break them! Hahaha!

Exercise goals especially can be hard, especially since you just finished eating all that yummy food in Decemer! I’m no personal trainer or exercise coach (although I REALLY wanted to be an aerobics instructor when I was in my teens! Haha) but I DO have to say I am one of those people who actually enjoy exercise.  I don’t do any extreme sports but I really enjoy exercises like pilates and jogging.  (I also use to love kick-boxing).  Since this is my first post of the year, I thought I’d share with you guys a few tips that I follow and live by to try and stay fit.

1) I Drink Lots of Water –

I drink a lot of water! I’ve always loved water and its been years, like FOREVER since I’ve adopted this habit in my life.  I also drink green juice about 2 times a week because I love that it burns fat, its great for digestion, and it clears up your skin. (cucumber, spinach, celery, lime and water). I definitely try to stay away from soft drinks although I will have one with a burger once in a while but rarely.  Last year (2017) I became a coffee drinker but this year one of my resolutions was to only drink it once or twice a week because I really dislike the fact of becoming dependent on anything!  Plus, the ones I really like are the ones from Starbucks with all the sugar!  As we speak, its been 2 weeks since the year began and I have not had one! (But I will be allowing myself to 1 or 2 on the weekends in the near future).

2) I Sleep Early –

I love to sleep early! I think sleep is one of the major secrets of staying young and having nice looking skin.  That’s why its called beauty sleep! Also I really think if you don’t get a good nice sleep you will gain weight.  As weird as it sounds I think lack of sleep = weight gain.  Its happened to me before… I go to sleep late and then also wake up late the next day and then eat whatever is in sight because I’m so tired.  Everyone should get from 8 – 10 hours of sleep a day! With 10 hours I feel like a million bucks!

3) I Try Not To Diet –

What I mean is I try not to get excited about all the new fad diets that are always coming out.  Instead I try to eat 5 meals a day: Breakftast, Lunch, Dinner, and 2 fruit or nuts snack in between.  I try to cut the sugar and salt and stick to herbs/ spices when preparing meals for myself.  I also go light on the dairy, which for me means cheese because I LOVE cheese.  Oh and I only drink Coconut milk.  I stopped drinking cow’s milk years ago and I don’t miss it one bit! Having said that, I do allow myself to eat whatever I want at least once a week.  You do have to live a little people! Like when hubby and I go on a date or when we go to dinner as a family, of course I’ll eat yummy! (And I do love ice cream!!!) I love the phrase in Spanish that says “Nada con exceso, todo con medida”, which means Nothing in excess, everything in measure, which basically means we have to enjoy life and not get too caught up in being so crazy strict (unless you have some weight goals you have to accomplish).

4) I Try To Stay Active –

I’m a mother of 5 you guys so this is not a challenge for me because my kids keep me freakin’ busy ALL the time!!! But As I mentioned above, I try to do pilates or go jogging in the morning, 4 times a week.  I used to freak out if I missed a day of exercise but now I try to relax about it. I usually use exercise videos from youtube.  I’ve opted to not go to the gym for now until my baby twin girls go to kindergarten because I felt it takes WAY too much time out of my day to drive to and back, getting the girls ready, etc.  Working out at home works for me right now.  The main thing is to stay active in any way possible.

5) I pray –

Guys we are a triune beings….which means we’re made of spirit, soul, and body.  We not only have to take care of our body outside and inside with the foods we eat and with exercising, but we also have to take care of our spirit and soul by feeding them too! Because of this I think prayer is a very important factor to staying in shape. Let me explain…..the Bible says that God wishes that you are “healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.” (1 John 3:2 NLT) Basically if you have inner-peace (peace in your spirit/ soul), it will reflect outwardly! For example, when I spend time with the Lord in prayer (in the morning usually), it gives me strength to make better food choices during the day. If I’m feeling sad, depressed, heartbroken, anxious, nervous, angry, etc,….but I spend time with the Lord in worship and prayer,  He gives me the comfort or the inner healing that I need so I don’t have to reach for the huge bowl of ice-cream and eat it crying in front of the TV! Hahaha! Because lets face it, sometimes we totally use food as comfort unfortunately and we don’t even know we’re doing it! There’s been times when I go without praying because of a super busy schedule or because I didn’t wake up early, and my whole eating habits get a little out of control that day.

All of this stuff works for me, however, having said all that, I’m really wanting to kick it up a notch right now by getting into some sort of challenge or routing where I can firm up my abs and my arms for bikini season which will be here before we least expect it! If you know of any good ones, let me know!

Hope you all are having a great start to 2018!

XOXO

Atenea

P.S. Let me know in the comments below if you have any other awesome tips that work for you!

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