Fit for Life: Start Living Your Best Life Now

Saturday, October 06, 2018

Matt Espeut, GoLocalWorcester Health +Lifestyle Contributor

I was listening to the radio yesterday and the song “Cats in the cradle” by Harry Chapin came on just as I was pulling up to work, so I stopped, turned up the volume, absorbed the words and got a little glossy eyed while sitting in my truck. Then once the song ended, I immediately called my dad.

If you are not familiar with the song, it’s about a guy that missed his son’s childhood because he was busy all the time, but the son kept insisting “I’m gonna be like you dad”. Then when the guy retires, his son is too busy to spend time with him, so as it turns out, the son was “just like him”, and life had passed them by.

The moral of the story is, if we are not proactive with the things that mean the most to us, it will be too late in the end. You can’t turn back time and say should’ve, would’ve, could’ve and things will be ok. Because they won’t.

So, are you a proactive or reactive person?

Do you visit or reach out to the people that mean the most to you, or do you wait for someone to get sick or something bad happens before you make the call?

I happen to be close to my family, and see them all the time, so I have no regrets on that level, but many people do.

You may have had an argument and stopped talking to someone you care about, but is it really worth it?

You may have moved far away, or are too busy to reach out regularly, so when something happens, you go into reactive mode, and wish you would have been better at communicating, or a better son/daughter/sister or brother.

It hurts much more when someone gets sick or dies, and you were on bad terms, holding a grudge or didn’t enjoy their company or spend enough time with them.

The good thing is that it’s not too late and you can make a conscious effort to spend quality time with the ones you care about.

Stop waiting for a disaster or catastrophe before you act.

Start being a more proactive person instead of reactive and your life will have less incidents of stressful, or regretful situations.

Don’t wait for the first snow storm before taking your snow blower in for service (I did last year, and I shoveled a lot!).

Don’t wait to get robbed before you put an alarm system in your house. (also guilty of this one)

Most importantly, don’t wait to become overweight get sick or forced to be on medication before you start taking care of yourself.

I see this on a daily basis.

People come to me because they let themselves become overweight and out of shape that they take several types of medication, suffer from painful arthritis, and are in fear for their lives.

Don’t let it get to this point.

Start doing something for yourself TODAY, or you will eventually find yourself in a hospital bed.

The holidays are coming, so we are running a 6-week challenge @ Providence Fit Body Boot Camp starting Monday, so folks that want to be proactive and drop 10-20lbs before the eating season starts, have an opportunity.

If you are one on the masses, you are going to indulge on Thanksgiving and then let your nutrition spiral downhill until the end of December.

Then Jan. 1 you wake up in a reactive panic and make some bottomless resolution to “get back in shape”.

But this never happens and the weight and sickness creeps up and sets in.

The good news is, this is all avoidable if you try to be proactive with your lifestyle and prepare yourself, so you don’t need to be reactive when something inevitably bad happens.

You don’t need to go to extremes and build a fallout bunker in your backyard, just start doing small alterations to your lifestyle, and avoid pending doom by being proactive.

Remember life is short, and it’s not a dress rehearsal, so there are no re-takes or do-overs. Start living your best life now and add some quality to your years. Reach out to the people that mean the most to you and take care of yourself.

Committed to your success,

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one.

Related Slideshow: The 7 Best Health and Fitness Apps

Here is a list of some of the most obsession worthy health apps.

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MapMyRun

MapMyRun is the number one selling running app for a reason: it is easy to use, offers community support if you want it, and tracks and stores your exact routes for you. If you are training for a race or a serious runner, users say that the extra perks in the upgraded paid version are well worth it.

Made for iPhone, Android and Blackberry

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MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal seems to be the clear favorite amongst everyone polled. It is helpful not only for the fitness tracking aspect, but everyone polled mentioned how much they loved the food/diet aspect as well. From carb counting for diabetics to recipe ideas to complement your fitness goals, users love this app.

Made for iPhone and Android

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JeFit

JeFit is another fitness app that has rave reviews. It not only tracks progress for you, but offers a huge database of workouts. While many apps offer community support, JeFit allows you to sync workouts with friends who use the app, offering a (real) virtual buddy system.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Strava

Strava gets the highest mark of all the cycling apps. While it is also great for runners, the cyclers seem particularly inclined towards the fierce competition that can be ignited by this app. You can track all of your rides via GPS, then you can compare your efforts to those logged by others in the community on the same stretch of road. You can also join ongoing challenges that can net you great prizes (in addition to bragging rights).

Made for iPhone and Android

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YogaStudio

YogaStudio gets the top vote for Yoga apps. It has a lengthy collection of full class-length videos available at your fingertips. Unlike many other apps, this one also allows you to customize your own video yoga class. All of the poses are done by qualified yoga instructors, and you can find classes suitable for all levels of yogis.

Made for iPhone only

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SimplyBeing

SimplyBeing meditation app offers the best of both worlds. You can choose to run this app as a background for your meditation with soothing music or natural sounds that run for a set amount of time. Conversely, for those of you who have trouble focusing during meditation, you can choose a soothing voice-guided meditation.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Fooducate

Fooducate is an app all about educating people so that they make healthier food choices. Although not perfect, this app is easy to use (you can even take pictures of bar codes to instantly find foods in their database). It gives food a letter grade, tells you the pluses and minuses, and gives you better ranked alternatives. You can also use it as a weight loss tool by tracking your daily calories.

Made for iPhone and Android