Bryan Parady's Blog, page 11

Learning From The Ground Up

This weekend was a blast.  I spent it with my wife building our business. It takes work don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of stressful days leading up to this past weekend and a lot of planning putting it together.  But we saw reward from our work, and seeing that with determination and hard work it does pay off.

One thing I really learned was how important it is to really try and meet people where they are at.  It’s really easy to get caught up in our own story, but everyone has things they are working through, and everyone can use encouragement.

Another thing I’m realizing is you really have to stay in something for the long haul.  Both with building a business, and with building up people.  We’ve all had the person who stepped into our life for a short period and then stepped out of it.  That leaves us feeling un-cared for.

We’ve got to stay committed both to seeing building our dreams and in building people.  If  you stick with it, it won’t be wasted.  You will see results, you will see change, and more than that you will help others in their journey as well.

If anything as I grow my business I’m realizing the real importance is not just generating cash flow.  It’s about growing people.

Preparing For Health Success

Preparation is key. It’s key for a lot of reasons. You’ve probably heard that it’s best to prepare for disaster, so that you are not caught off guard.  It’s true, things happen and if we aren’t prepared for them, then it hits us way harder than we expected.

So how does preparation come into play with fitness?  In every way. If you don’t set yourself up to succeed you won’t.

If you’ve spent any time at my blog you know that I firmly believe that diet is like 75% of getting in shape.  It truly is, and if you don’t go into the week with a plan of how you are going to eat better and eat healthier, then you are going to find yourself with life slamming you during the week and not reach the goals you want.

So what do you do?  Prepare.

1st. Sit down and make a plan for the week of what you want to eat.

2nd.  Go shopping, get what you need, because you may not have time during the week.

3rd.  Prep your meals and snacks.  Take the time to make your meals for the week, you can cook chicken ahead of time, and cut up veggies ahead of time.  Put each days snacks in tupperware for each day of the week and that way you can grab them and go.

If you are doing smoothies make your smoothies ahead of time and have them ready to go.

By preparing for the week you are setting yourself up for success.

Lastly if you are having trouble coming up with healthy diet plan, I help teach people plans for optimal health as my job, so hit me up and I would love to talk with you more about it.

And if you want to get extra fitness tips and help click below to join my free facebook fitness group!

Think Your Way Into Fitness

How do you change your whole body, your energy level, your strength?  Is it done an hour a day?  Is that all that is required?  No.  Absolutely not. Fitness is not running an hour a day, it’s not lifting an hour a day, it’s not doing an hour of cross fit.

Surprised?  Good.  Do you want to know how to get fit?  I’ll tell you a secret.  It begins in your mind.  It begins with changing the way you think about everything.  Sounds intimidating I know, but it’s not. Let me explain.

If you go to the gym an hour a day it won’t be bad, but if that’s all you do, you will have a hard time keeping it up and staying motivated, and if it’s all you do, you won’t see the results you want to.

The reason?

You have to change the way you think about everything.  You have to determine and set in your mind that you will (YOU WILL) reach your goal.  Say it, over and over and over, until you believe it.  If you don’t believe, then say it anyway.  Everyday. Multiple times a day.

Second, do more than just an hour workout, change the way you eat, the way you think.  Believe you can, make changes in your diet, make changes in your workouts, make changes in your mindset and you will start to see the results you want.

 

Snacking Problems

So you have the munchies, and you are just in to your new health kick.  How do you get by without grabbing the junk?

Well first off you have to do some major surgery on your fridge and your cabinets.  Grab a trash bag and start chunking all the junk.  For real.  It will be painful to see the cookies, the white bread, the whipped cream and all the rest go flying away, but until you make the purge nothing will change and you’ll keep grabbing the junk.

Healthy Snacks

Now that your fridge and cabinets are clean (and maybe empty), it’s time to fill them up.

First you have to have alternative to snack on when you are hungry.  Here are some things you can fill your kitchen with for snacks:

Raisins, Whole Wheat Toast, Fruit (any kind), Kashi granola bars, popcorn (not the extra butter, but a healthy alternative popcorn), peanut butter and whole grain crackers, tortilla chips with non-hydrogenated oils and salsa.

These are just a few to get you started.  There are so many healthy options, and you don’t have to go to a fancy health grocery store to get this stuff.  Most grocery stores carry all these things, and much more.  Change your mindset when you shop for food.

Only get whole grains, no white anything.  Stop buying things because they say no fat.  That means nothing.  Don’t buy soda…period (yes that means no diet soda either).  Instead grab some fresh limes and lemons, and squeeze some into water.

Making small changes like these go an extremely long way.   Grab some whey protein and a shaker bottle, when you are really craving something throw a scoop in some water and drink it, it will curb the craving.

Start Something

Start.  It’s a five letter word.  A five letter word that is extremely hard to put into practice.  Starting something new can be scary.  It can be terrifying.  Getting to where you can work out and eat better is no exception.  Whether we are starting a relationship, a cross country move, an education, or a new job, starting anything new is scary.

You’ve probably heard of a hundred diets, and a hundred workout programs.  Which one to choose, how to start, do I need the good looking workout gear that other people have?

Lace up your shoes and go to the gym.  Even if you are unsure, even if you don’t know where to start.  It’s not a scary place.  Get in there.  Whether you lift some weights or get on a treadmill, start something.

Cut out the foods you know are bad.  Fast food and soda for starters, sweets and white bread.

There are so many small things that we can start, that will bring long lasting and big change to our lives.  But you have to start, you have to take that initial scary plunge.  But soon it will be second nature to you.  You won’t even think about it anymore.  So what are you waiting for?  You’ve got this!

Fitness Without Results?

Have you worked out or ate better with little to no results?  Have you quit before because you aren’t seeing the change you want. Fitness is like that sometimes. Normally when you start working out 1 of 2 things happen.  You either see a lot of results very fast and then it tapers off, or you just are seeing much change.

There are several reasons that can contribute to this, but overall it’s because “plans” and “diets” don’t work.  They bring temporary change but not lasting results.

The only way to bring about long lasting change is to change your lifestyle.  To change your mindset.  This can be done. No it’s not always easy, but it is rewarding because you have that lasting change.

It can be frustrating.  But you have to remember, if this was easy everyone would do it.  You have to stay focused, stay determined.  Remember your why.  Why you started. Why you want to be healthy.  Why you want to be fit.

If you are unsure of which step to take to reach your fitness goals, I would love to talk one on one with you.  There are ways to bring about lasting change.

How to Get the Energy You Want

Have you ever seen someone with a lot of energy and been like “wow, I wish I had half their energy?”  What is the key to having more energy?  Well there’s definitely no magic wand that can be waved to have it suddenly appear.  But there are some things you can do to boost your energy and drop some pounds in the process.

First off, if you haven’t already get rid of anything white in your house.  White bread, white flour, white pasta, white rice, get rid of it all.  White starchy foods are horrible for you, they sit in your gut, give you no nutritional value and make you feel like crap.  Replace it with whole wheat pastas, breads, rice, and cereals.  You want 100% whole wheat.

Next dump the soda.  Now before you shut this browser down, hear me out. Soda is loaded with sugar and a lot of other nasty things for your body.  Get rid of it.  Whether it’s diet or regular they are both horrible for you.  Drop the soda and grab a glass of water every time you would grab a soda.

Next cut fast food.  Pack a lunch.  Not only is it cheaper but it’s healthier.  Pick up some whole wheat bread, some pb&j, some tuna fish, some fresh deli meat.  All of these things are way better than fast food.

Do these 3 things for a couple weeks and I guarantee you, you’ll start to have more energy, and you’ll shed some pounds.

 

Making Fitness Work

How do you make fitness work for you?  A quick google search will reveal a million different workout plans.  How do you know which one is good for you?  If you are just starting out it can be overwhelming.

My advice? Just pick one.  Everyone’s body is different, everyone reacts differently to foods and workouts.  What works great for one person may not work for another.  Try some on for size.  Pick one and just start, give it some time and see what results you are getting, if it’s not a fit for you, pick something different.

Now don’t get me wrong, don’t jump around every day and never find a routine, because that won’t be helpful.

For example.  I had a certain workout that I’d been doing for awhile.  I liked it, but I wanted to try something new for the sake of improving different areas and muscle groups.  So I took on a new one. I did the new one for 2 months, but was having negative results, so I switched back and immediately saw change.  One works for me, one doesn’t, at least not in the way I want it to.

Nothing will work if you don’t begin something.  Don’t let choosing the right fitness plan keep you from even starting.

A great place to start if you are trying to find a plan that’s right for you is Body Building

Working Out When You’re Tired

Have you ever been tired?  Have you ever not wanted to go work out?  Have you instead wanted to binge watch some netflix and devour an entire tub of ice cream?  If we are honest with ourselves we’ve all had these days.  I know I have.

So how do we get through days like this?  We have a plan.  Have you seen those ads for making a plan before a disaster strikes, because when it strikes then it’s too late?  It’s kind of the same principal here.  If we don’t have a plan for what to do on those days then we will probably become a couch potato.

Have A Plan

So first acknowledge that you are going to meet resistance.  There will be days that work was long and hard, and you got home late, there will be days when the kids have made you want to pull your hair out.  There will be days you are depressed, sad, feel unmotivated. Life gets to us sometimes.

Second write down your goals on Sunday.  That’s right, write them down on a piece of paper and tape it on your mirror, your car dash, your fridge, wherever you will see it often.  Then write your why.  Why do you want to be healthier?  Why do you want to be fitter?

On the days when you’d rather pull the covers over your head read over this list.  Read it multiple times.  Read it out loud.  Then affirm yourself.  Tell yourself out loud that you can and will do your workout.  Affirming yourself and hearing yourself say you can do something gets things turning, and changes your mindset.

So do the above, and the next time you are having a rough day you will turn that day around.  Kick some butt and don’t ever give up.

 

Where Do I Start With Fitness?

Starting something new is scary.  Think back to your first day and first week of work at your job.  You were probably nervous, wondering if you were going to be successful at it and if you would learn the job in the time you needed to.

Then you got into a routine, and before you knew it you weren’t even thinking about it anymore but just doing what you needed to do.

If you are in a relationship, think back to day one and how nervous you were and how you wondered constantly if anything would come of it.  There are so many things that when we start we are scared of.

Fitness is one of those things.  The gym can be intimidating, between the grunters and people who look like they could kick your butt in their sleep, it can be a scary place.

Everyone Had a Starting Point

Everyone started somewhere.  Everybody was at one time a newbie.  Yes even those people that are extremely scary looking in the gym, at one time were intimidated themselves.

So just get in there.  Don’t worry too much about what other people are doing or look like.  You are there for you, not them.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions to the gym staff.  Any good gym, the staff should be more than happy to help you.  If you want some knowledge going in, google some workouts before going in.  You can google things such as: “Arm day workout”, “leg day workout” etc, and you will get lots of examples of what to do.

So don’t be scared!  Every new thing is a little nerve wracking but you will get in a groove.  Don’t let the fear of walking in a gym keep you from becoming a healthier you.  Get out there and kick some butt, you’ve got this!