How many times have you heard this expression?
“You don’t have anything if you don’t have your health?“
I’ve heard it thousands of times, and I’ve experienced first hand just how true it is in my own family. Yet, SO MANY individuals, married couples and families continue to live in a way that seems to totally disregard this truth. And there may be no bigger issue facing our marriages!
Let’s face it, we all know that we should be living a healthy lifestyle. Yet, the sad is reality is that most people simply don’t.
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This is particularly frustrating when it’s parents setting a poor example for their children, or worse yet, directly leading them to a life of obesity, diabetes and other chronic health issues.
Consider These Facts
- 68% of Americans over the age of 20 are overweight & 34% are OBESE
- 20% of CHILDREN ages 6-11 are OBESE
- Only 35% of American adults engage in regular physical activity
- 50 million Americans suffer from SLEEP problems & half these folks cite stress as the reason.
- 75% of Americans experience symptoms related to STRESS in a given month
- Americans now spend spend more money on FAST FOOD than on higher education, personal computers, computer software or new cars.
Basically, the McDonald’s mindset is taking over our culture while
So What Can We Do About It?
It starts with each of us personally taking responsibility to improve our lifestyle and lead our families .
To make this a reality, we need the proper tools that fit the busy lives that we lead. I co-created a site called Fit Marriage, and there are a plethora of exercise and nutrition resources and tools available there.
We have literally helped thousands of people get fit, stay fit and enjoy their family lives with renewed vigor. I can’t describe how fulfilling it’s been to touch marriages and families through the gift of improved health.
Earlier this year, we released our super-popular Thrive90 Fitness program. This program put our training approach into action, and it’s already helped hundreds of busy couples get slim, strong and full of energy.
It’s been awesome, but it hasn’t been enough. Our community, which includes many of my friends here at Engaged Marriage, continues to tell us over and over that you need something different, something new, something that gets to the core issues holding you back from the fit lifestyle you desire.
So Here’s What I’m Coming To…
It’s Time to Share It ALL & Revolutionize Lives
Here’s the deal.
Fitness tools are good, and there are countless exercise and diet programs in the world. The people who use the good ones get amazing results, as we’ve seen with Thrive90.
The problem is most busy couples and on-the-go parents DON’T USE THEM.
The time has come for a holistic AND simple solution to lead busy families toward the fit and healthy lifestyle they crave.
I have literally received hundreds (probably thousands) of requests from busy couples and parents like you asking for help with:
- Finding Time
- Getting & Staying Motivated
- Simplified Exercise & Nutrition (that just works for busy families)
- Community, Accountability & Coaching
These requests come (in that order) every single time we ask our readers at Fit Marriage and clients what they struggle with most when it comes to their fitness. NO ONE IS ADDRESSING THESE ISSUES!
Tony and I are on a mission to empower families and make a healthy, fit lifestyle a happy reality in the lives of everyone that wants it.
To be effective, this has to go beyond sets and reps or diet plans. It must be holistic and specifically created to meet your needs as busy couples and parents.
I’m Making a FREE Resource Kit for You, IF You’re Interested in This New Approach to Family-First Fitness
I’ve been really humbled by the buzz surrounding my last blog post at Fit Marriage. There was some confusion about exactly what I was considering, but it’s clear that the BIG idea here resonated with many. There has been A LOT of interest in this holistic fitness system that we are POTENTIALLY developing.
But to test the waters…I’m making a value packed, 100% free “Fit & Busy Life Resource Kit” for you.
IF you’re serious about getting on-board and leading yourself and your family toward a fit lifestyle.
Here is what the free “Fit & Busy Life Resource Kit” may include:
- A recorded interview of my story with how I got started with these techniques, the keys I learned from Tony and other fitness experts that finally made our family’s fit lifestyle “click” for good, and why this new approach has the power to fuel even the busiest family life.
- A workout that demonstrates exactly the type of exercise routine you can use to achieve maximum fitness results in less than 30 minutes per session – at home and with your family, if you choose.
- The “Getting Control of Your Time” primer that I personally developed to get super busy individuals moving forward with the confidence and mindset they need to achieve their fit lifestyle.
But Here’s the Catch
Because I’m a helpless perfectionist and will inevitably blow this thing way out of proportion…
…I want to get a list of everyone who is interested in a fit lifestyle and having this free “Fit & Busy Life Resource Kit.”
So Here’s What I Want You to Do
I’m making a list of everyone potentially interested in getting our free resource kit AND getting in at the start of all this.
Anyway, if you’re interested, then: (1) enter your email address below, and when it’s completed I’ll send it to you at the email address you list below (leaving a comment below with any suggestions on what you’d like to get from the kit would also help). If you already signed up for this over at Fit Marriage, there’s no need to do so again.
PLEASE NOTE: WE’VE NOW WRAPPED UP THIS PROJECT – YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE AWESOME PROGRAM THAT RESULTED BY CLICKING HERE. THANKS!
If you don’t want the free “Fit & Busy Life Resource Kit” then no worries. I just didn’t want our community here at Engaged Marriage to miss out on something that is so near and dear to my heart.
Here for you,
Dustin Riechmann
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This is a great idea. I started working a gym/ physical therapy practice, so I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. Three immediate thoughts: 1) Food Day is October 24 (www.foodday.org) . Promoting something like this in conjunction with the excercise thing would be awesome.2) Check out Katy Widrick if you haven’t already. She’s a rockin’ producer/ fitness blogger. She started something called Fitbloggin. Plus she has great blog/ networking advice as well. Get in her network, and that would help this project for sure.
Thirdly, check out joke #2 from this past weekend’s Weekend Update: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-favorites-10-15-11/1362552
Thanks so much for your thoughts, Jessica! And that SNL clip is perfect. 🙂
Your article makes one huge, fatal mistake.
Being fat does not mean someone is lazy, doesn’t exercise and they are causing their kid to be fat.
I personally am literally double my ideal body weight. Yet I eat healthy and exercise very regularly. I unfortunately suffer from health problems. I have not one, but THREE medical conditions that cause weight gain – I take medication for three other conditions where the medication is known to cause massive weight gain is most individuals – and while I used to manage it by being a fitness fanatic, doing intense training several hours a day, six days a week, after a series of serious injuries, for several years I was lucky if I could just walk some days – in fact there were several times where I was bedbound after surgery for months. Only in the last three years have I been able to exercise again.
It’s not a matter of being lazy – I love my exercise. Deep down, beneath the broken body, I am mentally that fitness freak I used to be. It kills me inside being so limited by what I can’t do. That feeling inside of me has led me to finally say, forget the consequences, I’m returning to exercise. So I know go to the gym several times a week and have returnedto taekwondo. I still have serious health problems- in fact my health is still getting worse. I break and tear things easily – in two years of returning to sport, I’ve broken bones, dislocated joints, and torn ligaments over and over.
Yet, on the days I can stand (even when walking is a struggle), I push on with the exercise. Just because I have a BMI that puts me in the morbidly obese range, does not mean that I am lazy. Even when I have bad turns in my health that prevent me from exercising for a month or two, this is not being “lazy” – this is accepting that to keep pushing my body when it is like this, could very well kill me.
Finally, just because a parent is fat, doesn’t mean a child will be. In my case, it is quite the opposite. My daughter is stick thin. In fact, she is so close to the bottom of the normal weight range, that I frequently have to try to feed her more than I eat (she’s 10 years old), simply to stop her being underweight.
My exercise limitations have never stopped her. She trains in taekwondo with me, her school is very pro-active in sport, and I take her to learn sport outside of school – soccer in winter, cricket in summer, as well as swimming whenever we find time to get to the pool. In fact, we’ve had to cut back on her sport (she was doing gymnastics training two lessons of two hours each every week) simply because the poor kid was too exhausted.
While some kids need to start doing exercise, other kids have to be made sure they are not doing too much.
And while IN GENERAL it may be that fat parents are lazy parents, and lazy parents have kids who don’t exercise and are overweight, be VERY careful not to generalise.
Because you do get people like me who are fat through no fault of their own, who are former fitness fanatics but can’t be anymore due to health conditions but who would love to be again, and whose kids are healthy, toned, athletic because they are raised by what you believe in regards in fitness NOT by what your broken body has turned out like.
Being fat myself doesn’t m
Thank you SO much for sharing your thoughts, J!
The trouble with any post that takes a stance like this is that (without a page of disclaimers) it inevitably is confronted with valid exceptions.
Clearly, your health problems are a real and legitimate exception to my opinions. When someone has an underlying health issue or some type of disability, the “fat and lazy” label surely doesn’t apply.
That said, the vast majority of us do not have these limitations. The stats I quoted above (mostly from the Centers for Disease Control) represent an average American cross-section. The VAST majority of those who are sedentary and/or overweight are in that position by their own doing, whether directly or even indirectly by other choices they make. This is not your situation.
As far as the impact our very, very sedentary American lifestyle is having on our children, the stats again tell the overall (but not whole) story. 20% OBESE children!?! This is clearly caused by parents’ choices and example. Again, you are an exception in that you understand and love the fit lifestyle. While your health issues prevent you from enjoying the benefits, you’re clearly doing a great job instilling these beliefs and behaviors to your daughter.
Kudos to you!
Dustin
Dustin,
Great post and I love what you’re doing for couples and families. I think it is hard to eat healthy and exercise when your partner is doing something different. I would love to see more programs aimed at working with the whole couple/family system. I think it’s much easier to stick with something when your partner/family is helping you and not tempting you back to your old unhealthy ways.
Thanks Ashley! If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to check out what we have going on at my other site at FitMarriage.com – we deal with exactly the issues you’re talking about.
Thanks!
Dustin
Hi Dustin,
Thank you for this great opportunity. This is a great idea and I would like to try out your program.
Thanks
Krishna
Thanks, Krishna! If you are interested in this fitness program, definitely enter your email address above because we are opening it up tomorrow for those on the interest list only!
Thanks,
Dustin