By Samantha Taylor, Samantha Taylor Fitness
That may seem like an odd statement. However, I think that is the art that so many people have lost, especially women. Women usually take care of everyone else but themselves: their kids, spouse, parents, or career—then, if they have any energy left, they may take care of their health or body. But the problem with this way of living is that if you are not really taking care of you, you won’t have the energy to fully enjoy all the other things you are doing.
Since my personal training studios have helped over 7,700 women lose weight or get fit, I tend to hear the same things over and over again: “I am so tired that I don’t even have the energy to play with my kids at night, let alone spend time with my husband,” or “I am so sick of always thinking about my weight or what I am going to wear,” or “I want to feel good again because I just hate feeling this way!”
The challenge is that so many women don’t know how to take some time for themselves. Yes, all your other responsibilities are important, but if you don’t also take care of you, you will regret it. You can wake up one day and find yourself 50 pounds overweight or in a size 18 or sitting at the doctor being told you have diabetes or heart disease. And the scary thing about heart disease is, many times the first symptom that someone has it is sudden death! Did you know heart disease is the #1 killer of women in this country!? 1 in every 5 female deaths is from heart disease.
I find it interesting that Jesus’ reply to being asked, “What is the most important commandment in the Bible?” was that He answered, “To love God with all your heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.”* Interesting. How can you love your neighbor as yourself if you don’t even love you?
It is not a selfish thing to take care of your health and mental well being. It’s responsibility for your body and it’s actually good for your family, too. The body you have right now is the only body you get until the day you die, so why not start loving it and taking care of it now? If you don’t, the body will quickly start to fall apart and we wonder, “How did this happen to my body?”
I encourage you to break through any excuses of why you aren’t doing something and just do it. Give yourself a gift for Valentine’s Day. Do something nice for yourself like get a massage, take a hot bath, or get a facial. And I encourage you with this new year to really start to take care of the body God has given you and hire a personal trainer to help you (and husbands, many women enjoy having the gift of a personal trainer, probably not for Valentine’s Day but another day).
Learning how to eat in a way you enjoy is key if you want to be able to keep it off. Not a program that is going to put you on drugs or starvation diets so you can’t maintain it once you go off them but a place that helps you to learn how to eat, get physically fit, and be around women like yourself. We serve many clients in their 50’s to 70’s in our personal training program.
If a place like mine sounds good to you, visit my website so you can set up a time to check out our studios. I want you to see how easy it really can be to get results when you make that decision that it is time to start taking care of you.
www.SamanthaTaylorFitness.com
(813) 377-3739
*Matthew 22:36-40
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