On Saturday, my hubbie and I went to the BC Bodybuilding and Fitness show in Vancouver.

I love a good show. We go every year. It keeps me motivated, and I appreciate the hard work that goes into creating those shapely, tight physiques on stage.

Makes me want to compete again. In fact, I think I will! For my 50th. One last kick at the can!

Now bodybuilding naysayers will say they don’t like the look (you only look like that at contest time!), or the huge muscles (they’re not that big actually, you’re  just extremely lean so everything pops out), or the amount of steroids they use (give me a break – people think everyone is on steroids, even me…at 105 pounds!).

I hate to tell you this, but ladies, I’ve been training you in the methods of bodybuilding for years: my Lift n Lose program, my Keep it Up program, and my on-line 10-Week Best Shape Challenge. And you love it! (And dare I say, you look great!)

Bodybuilding has such a negative connotation, but that’s what you do when you lift a little more than you’re comfortable with, and you eat a little fewer carbs. (In fact, bodybuilders wrote the book on clean-eating!).

Like all good things, the mainstream think they discovered it, and weight training is fast becoming known as the best way to lose fat, create shape, ward off disease, save joints, and cut the cravings. But sshhhhh, don’t call it bodybuilding! Call it anything else- functional, intervals, drop sets, body scultping, PX90…..you get my drift.

Weight training is so important for women’s physical, mental and emotional health that I stake my life, and my business, on it! And I’m doing very well with it! In fact, my current book is all about adopting the bodybuilding lifestyle, and how it’s the ONLY way to truly train and eat.

But don’t call it bodybuilding. What shall we call it? I know! Body Shaping!

A rose by any other name…..
karen

PS HLP Members - This Week on site!: Video upload under Road Trips- I visit the Red Barn Market and chat with head butcher Jason and learn about local meats! (And why choose local meats anyway?). Recipe upload - Summer Candies. Yum!

This summer, I’ve been putting pen to paper and writing my long overdue fitness and lifestyle book called Sexy Weights! – How to Look Fit and Healthy at Any Age!

At first, I felt the usual why would anyone care about my life protests welling up from my inner critic. I have no great story. There’s no ‘marketable moments’. I was never 200 pounds, knock-kneed or had a great health crises that steered me toward fitness.

So what makes me an authority here? Why would anyone want to read my book on exercise, nutrition, and life in general?

My story is common. Millions of women struggle through what I call ‘living in the grays’: that bland dullness that follows us through life, then we turn 40? 50? and wonder where our body, our sparkle, our life went. Common, predictable…an un-story of sorts.

As women, we struggle to lift ourselves above the sometimes flavourless-ness of our life. We struggle to re-discover our lost sparkle again, our sex appeal, our youth. (Is it any wonder the Vampire movie series are so popular with middle-aged women with its return to young, sexy romantic love?) 

My call to fitness was never about building the perfect bicep. It’s about women supporting women. It’s about finding our sparkle and our passion, and never, ever giving up.  Because we’re all in this together.

That’s what weight lifting means to me. It’s my symbol, my talisman. It reminds me who I am, and to never give up. Find your talisman and steer straight for it! Celebrate your strength, your sexiness, your right to take up space.

Karen

HLP Members: NEW RECIPE upload - 3 Quick ‘n Lite Summertime Recipes. Located under HLP Articles or pick it up from our HLP Facebook page! Next week – RED BARN Market video and shopping list!

Being healthy and living well is never by accident. It is a conscious choice we must re-confirm to ourselves every day. The biggest mistake people make is once they reach a goal, they let go of the reins.  And before they know it, they’ start slowly gaining the weight back/ They lose their momentum. 

So find something / someone you can rely on, dial into, be supported by every day. Stop surfing the internet to find the perfect program/diet plan/DVD. Rather, find someone whose philosophy and program you can truly believe in. We need less information and more inspiration. We all need someone, something to believe in.   

Find your ‘tribe’, your support network. There’s strength in numbers, and as women, we need those numbers, the group, the ‘tribe‘ and all its intricacies, its humanness, to keep us on track and supported every step of the way. 

“No woman is an island”.

karen

On Monday evening, I graduated 19 women from the 10-Week Best Shape of Your Life Challenge. What an awesome 10 weeks it has been! 

We had prizes for Best Contest-Ready Shape, Best Comeback, Best Catch-up, Best Improvement in Strength, Best Long Distance Success, and Most Inspiring.

We laughed, ate, and chatted about our familes, our dreams, our pitfalls and successes, and the highs and lows of love (and life) in general.

The Challenge is not about creating the perfect bicep. It’s women inspiring women, and watching them coming into - and own - their power! It proves what we can do when we put our minds into it, when we believe in ourselves and trust in the process.

Congratulations to all of you. It was a real pleasure!

karen

PS: Reminder - I have only 5 seats left in my next Best Shape Challenge starting July 5th. Registration closes in 5 days. Don’t miss out! More info click here.

OK. I admit it. I fell off the healthy eating bandwagon while back.

It all started with that jar of Nutella….

Now I’m always advocating that if you don’t want to eat it, don’t have it in the house.  But I had it in the house because I teach nutrition seminars to at-risk youth, and label-reading is a part of what we do, so the Nutella jar was a ‘prop’. a demo, unopened……

Yeah right…after a particularly hard week, the jar was speaking to me. So I grabbed it from my stash of ‘props’ in my office, popped the lid, and stuck a finger in….just one small taste….

Well, 4 days later, between me and my husband (mostly me), we had scraped and licked that jar clean! And the scale was up by 2 pounds! And my jeans were tight. I hate that feeling!

So after the Nutella  ’fall’, I did what I’ve done tons of times: I got back on the healthy eating bandwagon. Now, 10 days later, I’m down the 2 pounds, my jeans fit again, and I’m proud to say I’m Nutella free.

See, it’s not about failing, or about falling off the healthy eating bandwagon. We all do it. It’s about getting back on, time and time again.  And every time you do, you do it with more ease and confidence, because you’re asserting that you’re in control, even when you slip. No beating yourself up, no chiding yourself. Just do it. Make that ‘You-turn’ and get back up on the horse!

My lesson: that supposed demo jar of Nutella is now empty. And it’ll stay that way!

No more tight jeans….for now.

karen

“A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make the turn.”  ~ Author Unknown

Life can be hard.
Don’t be afraid to make that turn, 
onto a new road, a new venture.
See it as a chance to create something fresh, something new.
And lead with character and integrity.
You will be rewarded.

karen

This month’s Breathe Newsletter: for women

The importance of Consistency.
It eludes us all, from time to time, 
But success in all avenues of ife, including dieting and exercise, requires it!

And see one  woman’s successful journey to lose almost 30 pounds and reclaim her life!

Breathe newsletter: Consistency

Enjoy. And please share it.

Karen

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint, and begin to build.” - Robert Collier

See your desired goal in your mind’s eye,
Then walk as if you already have it.
And soon, you will.
It’s Universal Law.
It’s like gravity: it can’t not work. 

karen

Back by popular demand: Breathe Newsletter – for women.

This month’s topic – Inspiration!
How do I get inspired…
The power of laughter…
Variety in your training…

And read one woman’s inspirational story of losing 20 pounds and reclaiming her life!

Breathe newsletter – Be Inspired!

Feel free to share it with others.

karen

“Perseverance is not a long race: it is many short races one after another.” – Walter Elliot

If you fall off the healthy living bandwagon, dust yourself off and get back on.
It’s the discipline of getting back on that matters….
Over and over again.
It’s what responsible adults do.

karen