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Heather Edwards helps you to Get Physical in your divorce recovery

Posted: December 2, 2008
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Author: Heather Edwards
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Filed under: Ask the Fitness Pro
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Tags: divorce exercise, divorce recovery, exercise, heather edwards

Here is our first article from our fitness professional Heather Edwards. I have mentioned many times in my posts that physical activity was one of my friends during my trying divorce recovery. Heather has been kind enough to devote her time to educating us on more detailed benefits of physical exercise and a plan for recovery. This is her first of many contributions.

Get Physical – Use Your Body to Get Back On Track During Divorce

You’re no longer with your spouse and you’re amongst a whirlwind of uncertainties…now what?

Make changes to mold your new future by using your body and your mind. It’s been said many times that if you feel good about yourself and have a positive self-image, that positive aura exudes from within to those around you.

How do you feel about yourself right now? Do you have a positive self image?

To improve your self-image and feel good about yourself, you need to take care of yourself physically and mentally by changing the one thing that affects both your physical and mental well being ? FITNESS!

There are many proven benefits from physical activity:

Look and feel better
Improve your health:

Help prevent high blood pressure
Strengthen your bones
Fend off heart disease and other medical problems

Relieve stress
Achieve and maintain an appropriate weight for your height and build

You have complete control over your fitness level and activities. Start your new independent life by setting a goal and choosing a fitness routine to get fit and achieve that goal. Whether it’s losing five pounds, using the gym three times a week, running a 5K race, or just feeling better about yourself, decide how you’ll achieve that goal now. Try to follow this plan:

Choose a goal and give yourself a timeframe within which to achieve it. Then decide upon a reward for when it’s achieved. Note: It’s better to start with a smaller goal you know is definitely attainable to prevent yourself from getting discouraged. (Example: Workout for 1 hour, 3 days a week, through December 31, 2008).
Put your goal in writing and place it somewhere you look every day (Example: The refrigerator, at your desk, on your bedroom wall, etc.).
Open your calendar and decide what days and times each week you’ll work towards your goal (Example: Mon/Wed/Fri from 7:00pm – 8:00pm).
Make sure you have all the items you need to prepare for, and achieve, your goal (Example: Workout clothes, gym shoes with the right support, water bottle, workout gloves).
Tell someone close to you about your goal so they can help hold you accountable. Make sure to ask him/her to check-in on you regularly to help keep you on-track (Example: A relative, best friend, coworker).
Record your progress and hold yourself accountable. This allows you to reward yourself for staying on-point, or notice if you need to work harder at maintaining your commitment. (Example: Put a big “X” on a monthly calendar on the days you actually worked out for 1 hour).
Reward yourself when you achieve your goal (Example: Buy that nice item you’ve wanted for some time).
Repeat steps 1 through 7 with another goal and/or the next step of your ultimate “larger” goal (Example: Run a local 5K race).

As you work towards your new fitness goal, you are going to feel better about yourself because you are doing physical activity and getting fit. Being fit gives you more energy to complete your everyday tasks as you do not tire as easily. Being fit allows you to sleep better because you have worked harder throughout the day and your body needs the rest each night, allowing your muscles to recover. Finally, you’ll see changes to your body as you are burning more calories each day. All of this in-turn uplifts your mental well-being and your vibe is going to boast happiness and success!