I know why you've been reluctant to jump on the fitness bandwagon, and I'm not blaming you for it.

Because fitness is hard.

Want to know just how hard? Here's a glimpse into the Fit Life:

Fit Life Truth #1: Exercise Counts
Lace up your shoes and hit the gym instead of getting extra sleep, watching TV or doing whatever else it is that you'd rather be doing. Do this 3-5 times each for 30-60 minutes.

Fit Life Truth #2: Nutrition Counts
Choose your meals based on the nutritional makeup rather than following your taste buds. Limit your intake of simple carbohydrates and get lots of protein and fiber in each meal.

Fit Life Truth #3: No Room For Junk
Turn down your favorite junk foods –even when you really, really want it. Cut simple sugars and harmful, processed fats out of your diet completely.

Fit Life Truth #4: Push Harder
Push your body to be stronger, faster and better during each workout. Don't simply go through the motions in your routine – consistently challenge your muscles to do more each day.

Fit Life Truth #5: Calories Count
Limit your total calories to within an appropriate range for your size and goals. Remember, even healthy calories can add up to weight gain when you're not careful.

That's just the basics on what it takes to enjoy a fit and healthy body. Pretty hard, right? Now let's take a look at with the NOT-Fit life looks like...

NOT-Fit Life Truth #1: Be Sedentary
Spend your spare time being as sedentary as possible. The less that you use your muscles, the more aches, pains and mobility limitations you'll experience. Oh, and if you're consuming more calories than your natural metabolism burns then you'll steadily gain weight.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #2: Eat For Taste
Eat whatever sounds and tastes good. The human palate is naturally drawn to items that are high in sugar, salt and fat. Your eat-whatever-diet will be filled with these fattening foods and will be lacking in protein and fiber. You'll find your weight increases, and your energy levels plummet, accordingly.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #3: Just Say Yes
To your favorite junk food, that is. As I mentioned above, your favorite foods are likely high in sugar, salt and fat. Or, more likely, your faves are high in all three! Your indulgent eating is going to raise the number on your scale higher, and higher, and higher.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #4: Get Comfortable
Your goal is to be comfy. This means use as little muscular strength as you can on a daily basis. When you don't use your muscles they begin to atrophy (shrink!), leaving you with less lean tissue. Since lean tissue raises your metabolism, a drop in lean tissue means you'll be burning fewer calories at rest than ever before.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #5: More Is Better
There's no limit on how much you eat – in fact more is better. As a result you often feel sluggish from your overloaded digestive system. And your motivation to exercise and turn your NOT-Fit Life into a Fit Life gets dimmer and dimmer.

So which life is harder? The Fit Life? Or the NOT-Fit Life?

The truth is that both of these lifestyles are hard. Just depends on which hard you'd rather deal with.

The Fit Life's hard has to do with discipline, motivation and determination. It's about doing the right thing rather than the easy thing. Most of all, the Fit-Life is about constantly striving forward.

The NOT-Fit Life's hard has to do with excess fat, aches, pains and physical limitations. It's about avoiding doing the hard thing now and ending up with a body that's just plain hard to live in. Most of all, the NOT-Fit Life is about NOT taking action.

Which hard do you choose?

If you'd like the Fit Life then take action now by calling or emailing me today to get started on a fitness program that's going to be hard.

The best kind of hard.

Stressed out? Exercise is a simple solution to get you feeling good fast.

This is because every time you exercise your body increases its production of endorphins, which are responsible for that feel-good euphoria you get after a great workout or while chomping down on a piece of chocolate.

However, before you turn to chocolate and skip the gym, remember the end result of each and choose which one will help you reduce stress in the long run. (Hint: It's not the chocolate!

Most chicken salad recipes contain loads of mayonnaise or dairy products, but not this one. A simple can of coconut milk makes this salad deliciously creamy while roasted chiles, fresh cilantro, sweet fruit and crunchy pecans really bring the flavor. Serve on large butter lettuce leaves.
Makes: 8 Servings

Here's what you need...
For the Creamy Coconut Dressing:

• 1 (14oz) can coconut milk, full fat
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• lemon zest (all you can get from one small lemon)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• dash salt
• dash pepper

For the Salad:

• 1 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup red grapes, halved
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 apple, finely chopped
• 4oz can mild chopped green chiles
• 1 lb roasted chicken, chopped

1. For the Creamy Coconut Dressing: Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk well and then set in the fridge to chill while you prepare the salad.
2. For the Salad: Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Add the creamy coconut dressing and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with large lettuce leaves and Dijon mustard.

Nutritional Analysis: 286 calories, 20g fat, 80mg sodium, 6g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, and 19g protein

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