THINK FIT is back in effect and better than ever! Just in time to help get you ready for the holidays! So, in the immortal words of Slick Rick, “Here we go…”

It is my aim that by sharing my experience as a fitness trainer for over 14 years, readers will feel encouraged, glean some additional direction and pick up some helpful tips, tools and tidbits along the journey to living a happier and healthier life.

The mission of my company, Fit4LA.com, is to make fitness available to everyone, no matter what race, religion, economic status or social identification.

I’d like to continue sharing what I have found to be the key to success, not only in life, but in specifically in achieving and maintaining fitness related goals and aspirations. It is what I call The FIT4 Principle™. The FIT4 Principle™ consists of several thoughts attitudes and suggestions that, when put into action, have consistently yielded significant, life-lasting, duplicable results.

I will share this formula and expound on it’s components with each blog entry. So, without further delay, allow me to continue with Step 1 of The FIT4 Principle™; FIND YOU:

FIND who YOU are, what YOU are and where YOU are. It’s okay to want something more or different for ourselves, but in order to accomplish that, we must take a realistic look at our current state. We spend so much time trying to fit ourselves into notions of who we “should” be but don’t spend enough time figuring out who we actually are. We must know our starting point before we can get to our final destination.

FIND what YOU are – Part I

Are you a Vegetarian or are you a Vegan? Do you even know the difference? (Sometimes even I get confused!) Are you a Carnivore? An Omnivore? Or are you a Sometimaterian? It is very important to take notice of the types of food you eat and how they make you feel.

For example, I am an InTheMiddle-atarian. I eat mainly fruits and vegetables but love shrimp, chicken, turkey and tuna. I haven’t had red meat or pork in at least 10 years. Is it because I think a pig is a mix between a cat, rat and a dog? Not necessarily, but I can see the resemblance. Okay, let’s leave religion out of this for a second! I stopped eating beef and pork strictly because of the way it made me feel. In my teens, I was Burger King and to me, the greatest invention ever made was McDonald’s Triple Cheeseburger! (Two for me, please!) But then…as I started to get a little older, my metabolism slowed and I could feel the meat sitting in my stomach like a rock. Due to my heavy schedule, I had no time for “–itis” to set in.

As difficult as it was, I stripped my fingers from the bun and, for 30 days, ate nothing that “Mooed or Oinked” (My Chi-Town people will get that reference). For me, the result was amazing! I could eat lunch with out having to go “get something out of the car” (code for ‘power nap at work’) or falling asleep at my desk. After a month or so of a pork- and beefless diet, I tried having some baby back ribs and I couldn’t find the bathroom fast enough! That was enough to convince me that anything that had such an adverse effect on my system had no business being there in the first place! So, there I was, a newly baptized InTheMiddle-atarian.

There are some schools of thought that suggest that humans aren’t naturally carnivorous. While both sides of the argument suggest valid points, it makes anatomical sense that we are not Carnivores by nature. For example, consider our dental patterns. We only have one set of canine teeth and every other meat eater has a mouthful. Also, our digestive tracts are extremely long, more consistent with Herbivores, not Carnivores whose intestinal tracts are only 1/3 to 1/4 the length, so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly. If meat doesn’t pass through quickly enough, remnants get stuck to the intestinal walls and begin to build up. Hmmm… and we wonder why it’s so tough to loose that gut? In addition, fish and poultry aren’t nearly as intrinsically fatty as pork and red meat. The latter is much more fibrous and is highly innervated by veins and blood vessels with lots of extra places for fat to hide.

I am not suggesting that everyone should eliminate pork and red meat from of their diets; I am merely suggesting that you should pay attention to what you’re eating and how it affects you. Your energy levels, your digestion, your breath (just kidding…kinda). Seriously though, if you know you are lactose-intolerant, leave the cheese off that burger! Don’t scarf it down at lunch; spend the rest of the day at work trying to hold in the gas and then wonder why your stomach hurts so badly on the way home!

This goes along with Step 1 of The FIT4 Principle™ (see FIND who YOU are aka Know Thyself blog). The more honest and aware we are about what’s going on with our bodies, the more success we will have when it comes to achieving our fitness goals. No diet or exercise plan or way of eating is one size fits all. There are some general rules and guidelines that apply to most, but you have to listen to your body and decide what works best. And no, you cannot convince me that you listened to your body and it said, “Krispy Kreme works best!” If you’re not sure what guidelines to follow or how to translate your body’s feedback, enlist the help of a professional.

There are additional health related aspects to consider as well. In the process of FINDing what YOU are, make sure you know things like: whether or not you are anemic, if you have a calcium or vitamin deficiency and to what foods you are allergic. I recommend getting an allergy test because allergies are very tricky and don’t always manifest themselves in the more obvious ways (hives, scratchy throat, swelling). Sometimes an allergic reaction can be expressed as subtly as an increase in lymph production, which significantly hinders your ability to loose weight. When you have an allergic reaction, your body holds on to all your resources… including those love handles!

One last thing on FINDing what YOU are; you need to ask yourself this very serious question: “What kind of fruit am I?” Huh? Yes, I’m for real! Think on that and I’ll get back to you. I wanna see what you come up with.

Also, keep in mind that the holidays are fast approaching! Now is the time to start figuring out your game plan for getting fit before the holidays hit. You don’t want to go into the holiday season without a strategy.

Stay tuned for more on FINDing what YOU are and good luck on all your fitness and nutrition related endeavors. Till next time, all good things…

P.S. Let me apologize for not being able to respond to the many wonderful comments you left after my first posting. It seems that during the TDs (technical difficulties), all of your comments were lost in the abyss of cyberspace. So please, feel free to repost and I will respond.

-L

Lanre Idewu, B.S., C.P.T. is a Celebrity Fitness Trainer and founder of Fit4LA.com,whose mission is to make fitness accessible to everyone. His carefully customized tips for living fit are exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.

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The mission of my company, Fit4LA.com, is to make fitness available to everyone, no matter what race, religion, economic status or social identification.

I’d like to begin by sharing what I have found to be the key to success, not only in life, but in specifically in achieving and maintaining fitness related goals and aspirations. The FIT4 Principle™ consists of several thoughts attitudes and suggestions that, when put into action, have consistently yielded significant, life-lasting, duplicable results.

I will share this formula and expound on each of it’s components with each blog entry. So, without further delay, allow me to introduce Step 1 of The FIT4 Principle™.

F – “FIND YOU” – Find who you are, what you are and where you are

FIND who YOU are, what YOU are and where YOU are. It’s okay to want something more or different for ourselves, but in order to accomplish that, we must take a realistic look at our current state. We spend so much time trying to fit ourselves into notions of who we “should” be but don’t spend enough time figuring out who we actually are. We must know our starting point before we can get to our final destination.

FIND who YOU are. Are you self-motivated? Or are you a slacker or procrastinator? Do you jump right out of bed in the morning? Or do you, like me, continually hit the snooze button until those extra 7 minutes of bliss are overcome with the horror of “If I don’t get my *ss up right now, I’m going to be late!” Can you hold yourself accountable? Or do you let yourself slide? If I give you an exercise plan to do are you going to follow it on your own or do you need someone to watch over you? Are you a mover and shaker or an excuse maker? How consistent are you? Are you steady and even-keeled, able to stay the course or do you start something with all the fervor and gusto of a New Years Resolution only to peter out 2 weeks later? Are you only in the gym in January and 2 weeks before an event at which people will see the results of the late night wine and ice cream cravings?

It is important to know the answers to all of these questions and what is most important to know is that whatever your answers are, It’s Okay! We should be able to look at ourselves without judgment, without beating ourselves up, without feeling inadequate. At the same time, we can’t ignore the white elephant. What white elephant? We need to know who we are; how we react, our patterns, our excuses, our bad habits and also know that in the end, it’s all good! As Gloria Foster, the Oracle in “The Matrix” would say, “temet nosce” – “Know thyself” (Or “nosce te ipsum” for all you Latin traditionalists out there. I see you! – Oh, my God, did my inner-nerd just peek out?).

The truth is we are all of these things at different times and the more honest and aware we are about whom we are most often, the more success we will have when it comes to achieving our fitness goals. With a clear and honest perspective, it is much easier to set ourselves up to win. We can customize our fitness program around who we are and it will be a much better fit because we aren’t trying to force a square peg into a round hole (and eventually won’t be trying to force a size 14 *ss into a size 8 pair of jeans. I see you too!)

For example, if you know you can’t wake up at 7:00am, don’t sign up for the sunrise boot camp down the street, unless, of course, it includes a complimentary wakeup call. If you loose your steam 2 weeks into a commitment, don’t sign up for a lifetime membership at 24 Hour Fitness because they told you that today’s the last day they can wave the initiation and application fees. (I used to work there, can’t you tell?) If you like a glass of wine at night, don’t put yourself on the Atkins’ diet and try to pretend wine is not a carb. (Have no fear; there are ways to work your caloric intake around it.)

It is absolutely possible to get the body you want and deserve, but it must start form a place of clarity and complete honesty. It is the only way! If you need an unbiased perspective when trying to Find who You are, get help. Ask a trusted friend (you know the one that will actually tell you if your breath stinks), a coworker, fitness professional or anyone who you fell will be honest with you and not give you the Hollywood “You look great, I wouldn’t change a thing!” answer. Sometimes it’s better to get an outside opinion.

Stay tuned for more tips, and good luck on all your fitness and nutrition related endeavors.

Until next time, all good things…

Lanre Idewu, B.S., C.P.T. is a Celebrity Fitness Trainer and founder of Fit4LA.com,whose mission is to make fitness accessible to everyone. His carefully customized tips for living fit are exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.