—ON THE MOVE FITNESS—

Trying to lose weight? Consider an event!

If you are trying to lose weight, consider participating in an event. It doesn’t matter how intense the event is: it could be a 35 mile cycling event like the Elephant Rock or Buffalo Classic coming up in September or a 5K walk/run. Something special happens when you fill out a registration form to enter the event, plunk down your registration fee and mark the date on your calendar. You get focused, you get committed and you start talking about it with friends and family. It fills you with energy and motivation. Getting your workouts in takes on new meaning because there is now a larger goal - to complete the event. You will tend to work harder and push yourself further if you know you have an event coming up in a few weeks. Also, you will start focusing less on the number that you see on the scale and focusing more on how much further you can run or bike today.

Training for an event will also encourage you to eat “cleaner”. When you eat healthy, with an eye toward fueling your body for your workouts, you are less tempted to eat junk. It will show up in tomorrow’s workout by slowing you down and making you feel more tired.

Signing up for an event encourages you to get out of your comfort zone. If you have never participated in a triathlon for example, completing your first Sprint Triathlon will at first seem like an unreachable goal. After weeks/months of steady training, all of a sudden, there you are on event day! It is so exciting and exhilarating to be swimming/biking/running next to your fellow athletes and to think “I am doing this!” The warm glow of accomplishment and the pride you will feel after an event is amazing! You start thinking about what other events you might like to do - events that you may never have even considered before.

Participating in an event also provides an excellent boost to your self esteem. Moms, especially, benefit because we are all so busy taking care of everyone else that it is refreshing to take time for ourselves to work at a goal and achieve it. Also, if the event is to raise funds (for example, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure coming up in October), it just makes you feel that much better to be able to make a difference, no matter how small.

So, if you would like to jump start your weight loss efforts or just support an on-going weight loss plan, consider signing up for an event. Check out active.com for events coming up in Denver and get out there!!

If you would like our help in training for an event, call us, Deb and Dave Brown, at 303-816-1426 or visit www.onthemovefitness.com. We are located in the heart of Conifer.