Kathleen Trotter - Finding Your Fit: A Compassionate Trainer’s Guide to Making Fitness a Lifelong Habit

Copyright

Copyright Kathleen Trotter, 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Editor: Natalie Meditsky

Design: Courtney Horner

Cover design: Courtney Horner

Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy

Cover photo by Malina Kaija

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Trotter, Kathleen, author

Finding your fit : a compassionate trainers guide to making fitness

a lifelong habit / Kathleen Trotter.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4597-3519-4 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3520-0 (pdf).-

ISBN 978-1-4597-3521-7 (epub)

1. Health behavior. 2. Physical fitness. 3. Motivation (Psychology).

I. Title.

RA776.9.T76 2016 613.7 C2016-903877-7

C2016-903878-5

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and Livres Canada Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.

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Chapter Take-Away

Adopting a healthier lifestyle is not just about making one change, such as eating chia seeds, cutting out gluten, or doing crunches. Think big picture. You need to sit less, become more mindful of your daily health habits, improve your nutrition, and move more.

The trick to successfully adopting a healthier lifestyle long term is creating a recipe for success that is tailored to your individual body and your lifestyle; always remember that your age, gender, activity level, nutritional habits, genetics, and fitness and health history will affect how you respond to exercise.

Learn to appreciate and love your body. Appreciate your genetic window. Work to be the best possible version of yourself. Become fit because you want to become healthier, not simply out of a desire to look like your favourite actress or model. Regardless of how your appearance changes because of exercise, moving will make you feel better.

By this point, I hope youre feeling motivated, and possibly slightly excited, to get moving. More important, I hope youre feeling that becoming more active is within the realm of possibility. Adopting a healthier lifestyle is possible and you can be successful. Dont let negative self-talk derail your progress. If youre feeling overwhelmed, tell yourself that the first step is to simply read this book. Dont get ahead of yourself. You dont have to change all of your health habits immediately. Remind yourself that just reading this introduction is a positive step forward. Adopting a healthier lifestyle is all about moving in the right direction, about trending positive. Now get up, take a walk around your living room, and come back to read some more!

Chapter Take-Away

Dont try to implement all these strategies at once that would be too overwhelming. Pick one or two and start there. Try implementing the two Cs of training (convenience and consistency); for example, walk home from the subway every day. Once that strategy is your normal, add another one.

Remember, your negative health habits were not formed in a day. You will not form healthier habits overnight. If you catch yourself thinking, Where on earth do I start? tell yourself to just START! Get up and pace the room, walk around the block, dance. Do something anything! When it comes to movement, remember: Some movement is always better than no movement.

Chapter Take-Away

The next time you dont want to exercise, remember that everyone has moments of low motivation. Dont allow yourself to fall down the rabbit hole the one where you convince yourself that you are the only person who struggles to exercise. That is not a helpful train of thought. We all have moments of low motivation; I know that I absolutely do. Remind yourself that you will feel better after the workout and that once you start exercising, it is easier to continue.

Get back on your fitness horse a more informed rider. Learn from your down moments. Maybe you dont want to exercise because your goals are unrealistic (see chapter 4), or maybe you are feeling discouraged because you are focusing only on the aesthetic benefits of exercise (see chapter 8). Whatever the reason, analyze the problem and persevere. Yes, the health journey is frustrating at times, but the struggle is worth it. The payoff is huge its your health!

Find activities that you enjoy or that inspire you. Sign up for a race. Train with a friend. Catch up on your guilty TV pleasures while on the treadmill. Or make your workout an adventure. Try a new running route or type of exercise class, or download new music. Reward yourself post-workout with a pedicure or a hot bath. Use whatever means necessary to make your workouts more fun, or at least more palatable. Tell yourself (sternly), I am NOT the type of person who skips a workout. Working through these steps to set yourself up for success will mean that when you ask yourself, When will I exercise? the answer will be obvious.

Chapter Take-Away

Always remember that your health quest is something you are doing for YOU! Adopting a healthier lifestyle is about self-care . Care enough about yourself to make daily movement a non-negotiable .

You dont need to spend money and energy investing in every new miracle workout program. Captain Obvious health solutions like walking more, doing fartlek intervals, and building a home gym may not seem flashy or innovative, but they are the inexpensive cornerstones of long-term health and an easy way to live by the rule that some movement is always better than no movement.

Chapter Take-Away

Set attainable goals that are based on accepting yourself for who you are. How your body responds to exercise will be influenced by your age, gender, genetics, fitness history, nutritional habits, and current activity level.

Dont keep your goals a secret. Tell your friends and family what you want to accomplish. Stating the goal out loud, so that other people know about your plans, can help keep you on track. Write your goals down. Writing your goals down will help you be more accountable to yourself.

Remember, health is a lifelong process. I tell myself that my end goal is simply to always be consciously moving toward a healthier version of myself. The key words being lifelong and moving ; health is not a linear process. It takes daily dedication. You wont wake up tomorrow and miraculously be healthy; think big picture. Adopting a healthier lifestyle is not just about making one change, such as not eating bread. Gradually, you want to work toward a time when you sit less, move more, and are more mindful of your daily nutritional choices. Learn from any missteps and persevere.