What I do and Why it Doesn’t Matter.
"How do you stay so fit?" "What do you eat?" "What is your workout?" I get these questions a lot. I also get the slumped shoulders of frustration when I side step the question. I usually don't answer this question for a few key reasons.
Number one: If you follow my plan, you are not getting to the core of what works for you.
Number two: Huh, as it turns out, there is no number two.
The truth of the matter is, we are different; what works for me will not sustain you because I am motivated by my authentic goals and current lifestyle. I am a 40 year old working mother, who enjoys outdoor activity and I live in a temperate climate, so I can play and workout outdoors year round. I also love vegetables and cooking. I have an autoimmune disease as well as chronic pain due to arthritis that rules much of what I eat. Point being: you either can't do what I do (standup paddle boarding in the cove in January) OR you would cut off a finger before giving up some of the things I have eliminated for health reasons (I hardly ever drink alchohol).
And it's also not quite that simple. Sometimes I eat cookies and lay in bed watching movies. I take the kiddos for frozen yogurt and skip workouts when the plumber needs to be scheduled. But I have made an overall habit of living a fit life.
In fact I have a manifesto (maggiefesto) that is in line with what I value.
1. Be More Maggie Everyday
2. Keep Learning and Accepting Challenges
3. STAY CURIOUS
4. Share. Share. Share
Can you do what I do and see results? Yes, yes you can. Will those results last? No, No they will not. Not until we get to the inside of why you want what you want.
There are successful people selling their programs. People who's only expertise is their own success. Which means the only plan they can sell is “this is what I did and look at me”. They want to sell you what worked for them and ONLY THEM. We need to start looking for what works for us and only us. I do this through experimentation and writing my "owners manual".
I have tried many ways and means to feel my best:
Fasting
Paleo
The whole 30
Another 30 day elimination diet that I don't recall the name of
JJ virgin
Vegetarianism (try that in a family of pig and cattle farmers)
HIIT workouts
Fitwall
Swiming
Gym ratting
Yoga
Dance
Track
Basketball (I was such a bad team member)
Tennis (that ended in me making an ass of myself by screaming at my husband)
Stroller Jam
Pregnancy fitness
Running
It is excellent to experiment...when you actually conduct an experiment; ask a question, search for ideas, create a hypothesis, limit the data, test the data, evaluate the data.
The abundance of other peoples plans, should stimulate our curiosity, and generate ideas. What I have seen happen is that people get stuck thinking, "This is the only solution, it worked for my friends, niece's daughter when she was loosing 17 pounds before her wedding; and as long as I do this I will be well." We need to keep our own self in mind.
For example:
Fermented foods are all the rage right now; sauerkraut, kimchi, pickled everything, kombucha...I was eating fermented foods everyday sometimes two or three times a day. BAD, BAD, BAD! But Maggie, how could the probiotic health cure of the micro biome universe be bad for you? When I was finally properly diagnosed with APD, an autoimmune disease that causes allergic reactions, my doctor promptly (and rightly) prescribed a "low histamine diet". Fermented foods are one of the highest sources of histamines in foods, I was basically eating allergic reaction causing foods. BAM! Take your fitness food fad and shove it (I'm obviously totally over it).
Coffee is back in the limelight of healthly things to do...is it? Is it for you? There are many, many factors that should impact your decision around coffee NONE of which you can gain from reading more supporting articles. You are going to have to experiment. But if you are going to read about it, read something that has facts, like this.
Morning routines are touted as one of the top habits of successful people. Many of these mornings start at 5am. But what if your physiology is such that you are a night owl? All of your productivity happens from 9pm-1am and you are going to waste that precious energy chasing someone elses idea?
And So My clients and I experiment. We try ideas, we read research, we collect data and we reflect on the data until we reach the goal. Continuing until there is an answer that is right for each person. Please, don't try and be something other than you. Shed your skin 1,000 times in search of you if that is what it takes. The fact is nobody can tell you what is right for you. Particularly when it comes to health, fitness and just good old fashioned wellness. For goodness sake we haven't even finished decoding DNA and we think Joe Shmo can tell us if a steak will give us cancer.
If you are at a loss about how to start experimenting. Give me a shout, I've got a way forward.