By Corey McMickle

While our slate is still relatively clean, I need to reiterate something. Your new year’s resolution of losing weight isn’t solely revolving around grinding in the gym or pounding miles of pavement. It’s discouraging watching other trainers prey on these people who are striving to want to make this year the best they possibly can by offering empty promises in their “fitness classes.”

Let’s think about our hygiene for a minute. Literally, what does it take to get that A+ from your dentist? You can’t simply just brush your teeth and fail to floss. Gargling with mouth wash is going to just make your teeth smell swell while they continue to rot away. Each part of the process is important and shouldn’t be left out to make your tooth doctor happy. Same goes for becoming healthy and trimming your waistline.

In my mind the foundation to a healthy life is going to begin in the kitchen. That trainer can maybe get you to burn a few hundred calories on one of his or  her stationary bikes, but if you’re not disciplined enough to say no to that Baconator at Wendy’s right after your workout (up to a thousand calories) you have essentially just wasted an hour of your life in a matter of minutes.

I’ve always preferred to drink in my calories than rather than eat them. This spawned from consuming countless sodas, juices, and milk when I was just a child. My mother said I must have ate a package of sponges when I was little just from the seer amount of fluids I’ve always taken in. In hopes of bettering myself this year I’ve done what I just knew was going to kill me… I’ve cut out soft drinks completely and halved my juice intake. The milk isn’t going anywhere unfortunately; chocolate milk is my kryptonite. But by doing this, not only have I cut countless useless calories, around five hundred to seven hundred calories to be exact, but my energy and sleeping has shown night and day progression. This simple step forward has had already made 2017 a success, it’s been that impactful.

It all starts with these sorts of simple steps. After fixing the where you get you’re calories, the next thing is getting off you rear-end and get moving. I’m not telling you to go join some gym, I briefly stated my urge to want to transition to my own at home routine in my last article simply because I understand that’s what I enjoy more. That’s where you have to dictate where you get moving at, where you enjoy it most. You love your grandkids? Pick them up from school and ride bikes down at the boat basin.

You want your daughter to do well and get picked for dance line? Go learn to dance with her! Or if you just want to relive those high football team years pumping iron, then by all means join the Anytime or the Y or whatever. Who understands what you enjoy more than yourself? Find out what that is and see how you can put your gut in a rut doing it.

You brush your teeth, floss, and use mouthwash, the modern day dental “Holy Trinity.” We have one more slice of our pie ourselves I want to briefly introduce before we depart. That is meditation. Mental hygiene is becoming more of a concern to me that I’m exploring these days. I have a gorgeous home, a beautiful family, a job, a wonderful column I enjoy writing, an amazing church, and tethering all those together is the things throughout the day I have to deal with.

My mind is constantly overloaded; like much of yours. This can cause serious harm if we never learn to zone out and deal with this mental stress. 

As mentioned, I just wanted to blindside you a little with something you may have never considered to be a beneficial exercise. I’ll go into detail on this topic in our next piece. Until then, stay strong Port City!