Time to get on the exercise train! But how and where do you start?

We've got some ideas to help you get into your personal health groove...

Elephants are cute, but they tend to become less endearing if you feel a little bit like one! A few days ago, my aunt sent me a photo from last summer. As I looked at it I thought, "Do my eyes deceive me, or was my face thinner then?!" True my vanity kicked in a little but it at least got me contemplating exercise. Then another old photo popped up among my papers and it has pushed me into the "take action now" mode!

The biggest challenge we have to wrap our heads around is beginning. The secret to maintaining a healthier lifestyle is just getting started! So what can we do to make this seemingly gigantic leap into the little step it is?

Make exercise and your health a priority. In such a fast paced society, making that mental shift in favour of health is a little step that can work wonders!

Visualize success. Here's another mental exercise that will work wonders to motivate you.

Get support. Who says you have to make this change on your own?! Whip out your smart phone apps, talk to a professional (trainers, instructors, nutritionists, etc). Need a personal cheer squad? Get your friends in the loop!

Pick activities that you enjoy. Chances are that if you like what you are doing, you will do it. Make exercising and movement enjoyable and it won't seem as impossible to continue. Working out doesn't always mean chugging along on a treadmill. Dance, hula hoop, swim, play ultimate frisbee, swing from the monkey bars... the possibilities are endless.

These are just few tips to making that first step back into an exercise routine easier. But my biggest tip of them all? Don't procrastinate! In the end, procrastination seems to be what really delays the exercise train (and I know this from personal experience!).

Good health to you all!

Image source and more tips at: "With exercise, the trick is just getting started," Julie Deardorff, The Chicago Tribune

Avoid those winter workout blues!

It's cold and it's dark for more hours than it is light out, but don't let winter mess with your workout!

How many times have you let winter convince you to skip your workout? I don't know how many times I've convinced myself that it's too cold to get moving, too rainy to drive to an exercise class or the gym, too early to get up and ski... Unfortunately, it has happened. But this winter, my major fitness goal is to overcome the laziness, ditch the excuses and get exercising!

Fitness Magazine has a great article that has all the answers to trump those winter excuses: Winter-proof Your Workout!

Don't let Old Man Winter get you down. Jump up and exercise!

Image source: Hotel Edelweiss