The Rhythm of Life is a powerful beat

In my last post I talked about Mind Over Matter; about how at the moment I feel like my mind isn't in it so its holding me back from my Fight 4 Fitness. I have read things about how music can have a big impact on your frame of mind, it could change your mood and make you feel completely different in an instance. So this is what I am going to explore today on New Years Eve and see how it could shape my 2016. But I don't want to get a whole year ahead of myself so lets start at the beginning.

I have been thinking about how music affects my life and my mood at the moment. Sometimes music can change my mood and describe my mood. When I am in a bad mood I get very good at describing my mood though music. Often I make up short song lyrics which describe how crappy I feel and how everything is getting me down (I'm so not a drama queen.) I sing these songs at these times and all they mainly do it make me feel worse.

On the other hand when I am in a great mood and want to shout it out and share it with everyone I can't think of the words or song lyrics to express it. But there are so many happy songs out there. Songs you can put on for the sole reason to cheer you up; sometimes within a second of them being on I start to smile and jig about a bit. The lyrics of these song talk to me and express the happiness I feel or want to feel more. Feel good songs can change a mood and a lot of the time they make me want to dance (I may look stupid but hey I'm exercising, its a win!!)

Songs can also bring us joy by reminding us of fond memories and as soon as we hear that familiar song we are transported back to that memorable time in our lives. That's what gave me the idea for the name of this blog post. "The Rhythm of Life" is an old song I once danced to in a show when I was very young. Now when I hear this song it makes me feel so happy and makes me what to dance. It reminds me of good memories of my childhood and my love of dancing. I also love the lyrics it describes how music can give that feel good feeling and change your mood as I have been saying. The chorus goes;

"Spread the religion of the rhythm of life.

And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat

Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet

Rhythm on the inside, rhythm on the street

And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat"

I have been trying to get back to my love of dancing and using it as extra exercise by joining a Zumba class. I love the style of Zumba dancing; so fun and energetic and my Zumba teacher makes up really fun moves that makes exercise a breeze; we just dance the calories away. Zumba music is always feel good music and makes me move happily.

So I mentioned the idea of using music to shape my 2016 and now I want to explain how I plan to do it. First of all I had the idea of making me see the good things in life by doing a challenge you may have heard of. It's the 100 days of happy challenge; for which I would put up a mini blog posts describing what has made me feel happy that day or a particularly good highlight of the day. This may help me make a habit of recognising the great things in my life and looking at the positives more. So then I also thought a could post a happy song for the day which may have cheered me up that day or may describe the events of the day. So starting tomorrow Friday 1st January 2016 I am going to do the 100 days of happy moments and music challenge.

Right now I am off to set up my New Years Eve party (might post the photo highlights next year :D.) Got to sort my music playlist too it could really set the mood for the whole night. See you in the New Year have a great night tonight whatever you do.

Mind before matter!

I have come to realise that the tagline fighting4fitness is not just about what I originally started this blog to achieve. When I started it was because I wanted to lose weight, feel fit and have a bikini beautiful body. I have now realised fighting4fitness is also about being fit in the mind in order to become fit in the body. At the moment my head just is not in it, I need to fix my frame of mind before I can strive for fitness in my life. 

So what am I going to do about it? Well I did a random google search of "getting in the right mindset to loose weight" in an attempt to find at least one source which agreed with my idea of a fit mind = fit body. I found a great looking sight call Weight Loss Resources and an article they have done called "Getting Your Head Straight" by dietitian Lyndel Costain BSc RD. This is the link to the website: http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/weight_loss/losing_weight/cant_lose.htm

I do like the look of the site and this article makes a lot of sense to me. It starts off with "You no doudt know how to lose weight-eat fewer calories and exercise more and you will see results. You may also have a list of things to change, such as eating more fruit and veg, going for a daily walk or buying low fat options." They say how most people trying to lose weight know this but its not that easy to do and look into why not, what is getting in peoples way?

Then there is a link to "reality check your mindset with the want to lose weight quiz." Which asks you lots of questions about why your losing weight, what it means to you, who your are doing it for and how high your motivation is etc. This then gives you a score to represent your current mindset for loosing weight. My score was 4 which isn't great, here is what the scores mean:

Any score over 7 indicates that you have a positive and realistic mindset towards weight control, and are more likely to succeed long-term. In other words, your head is fairly straight.

If you scored less than 4, its probably not a good time to start until you’ve had a rethink. Your answers also reflect potential stumbling blocks to achieving your goals.

So I think I need some help!! The website has lots of links to get me started and help me out. Phew!! I think this website could help me and hopefully others to get their head into loosing weight and keeping it off. The slogan for the site is "Fad Free Tools For Healthy Weight Loss." Well that ticks all my boxes.

Obviously its to do with my current lifestyle as well. I have been quite stressed lately with work being a new fast paced environment and all i want to do after is eat and sleep. Also my motivation comes in spurts. For a couple of weeks I would be really motivated; writing down plans to lose weight, exercising, eating well (not even craving chocolate) and writing millions of blog ideas. But then suddenly that all changes chocolate seems to be my best friend, exercise is beaten by T.V. and takeout and I don't feel like blogging about my current failure. This has been my cycle for the last year but I am here to try and break it.  

I want to make more time for me and do more of the things that make me happy. I know the things that make me happy, to name a few; listening to music, riding my bike (which is also good diet wise, BONUS!), being with or talking to my close friends, family and my boyfriend and making a picture book of great memories as well as striving to make more great memories. Life's looking up at the moment but when its not I need to look at this list and do these things more. Hopefully a happy mindset can be my key to staying on track. 

I think music can be a big mood changer and listening to one of your fave feel good songs can really lift your mood. My next post is going to be based on this idea so before I leave you today I want to share a song that always cheers me up from the very start with some little dudes that make me smile. A Happy mind could be the first step to being Happy with my body and that's my song of choice.