Cupcakes and Health: A Day in the Life Sunday

There are many reasons to exercise regularly and eat healthy. I get that. What I don't get is why we continue to chase the next new "perfect" diet or fitness plan only to be  surprised and disenchanted when the too-good-to-be-true results are not realized.

Stop chasing. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to health and fitness. What works for one, won't work for another and what works for you today, may not work for you tomorrow.

The only perfect plan is the one you will follow.

Today, the plan I am following includes a paleo-ish way of eating (I completed an 8 week Paleo challenge last month) and CrossFit. I've had amazing results in strength and flexibility and am feeling better overall with less cravings, more energy, and stable  blood sugar levels. But the rigidity of the LuRong plan is too much of a long term commitment for me.

I stayed 100% true to the plan until I attended a wedding. I made good choices throughout the night: red wine and not white, shrimp and not eggrolls, sweet potatoes and not mashed. Then the desert came. Not eating the desert was less choice and more deprivation (see cupcake above).

I ate the cupcake.

And nothing bad happened.

I jumped back on the bandwagon and finished the challenge - strong. So, while I wait for my finisher's t-shirt, I'll continue to push my self and my strength, pay attention to the foods I eat and settle into the right balance of Paleo/clean/fun foods and exercise for me.

It's taken me a while to get to where I am, now. Will I be in the same place, doing the same next year at this time? I don't know. The one thing I do know is that whatever my perfect plan is, it will always include a cupcake.

Taunting Mother Nature: A Day in the Life Sunday

Mother Nature's a peach when it comes to summer fun but when it comes to women and fitness, she's got an ax to grind. 

​iStockphoto

It's not that I don't like a challenge but this road from zero to fit is one I am all too familiar with. You'd think I would have credits in the fitness bank for 10 years of Army early morning PT, 2 separate year long sessions with a personal trainer and the best of intentions.

Not.

The best of intentions in the world can't counter a loaf of crusty Italian bread and a stick a salty butter. It's amazing how many calories a person can eat in a day. Thanks to My Fitness Pal I saw the cold hard truth about I can blow by my entire daily allowance by lunch time without even trying hard.

If I stop exercising for a bit there's no crossing go, no collecting $100 and no benefit of the doubt on my way to easy street. There's only another muscle aching, strength building, personally challenging session of CrossFit where I am confronted with accountability. I love it and I'd choose to do it even if I didn't have to.

But I don't have a choice. I have to exercise regularly. Why? In the battle against the natural aging process, the odds are stacked against me.

But they don't have to be. Why won't Mother Nature just pony up and give us girls this one in return for our child-bearing years? ​She's a woman. She has influence. I sure wished she'd wield it more often.