Take Care of Your Body

Intro by Skip Cohen

At first, this guest post from Michele Celentano is going to seem way off base from a blog about photography, but there two excellent points here to share.

First is obvious. As a professional photographer, you’re caught in the perfect storm every day. You’ve got to keep up with technology. You have the challenges of running a business, and that includes marketing. Then as if being a business owner wasn’t enough you’ve got the challenge of finding balance as a spouse, parent, and friend. And, somewhere in all that is the difficulty in not losing your own identity!

You’ll never find the balance between all your priorities if you’re not feeling good physically and most often that means staying healthy. If you’re carrying around a lot of extra weight, it’s the equivalent of never putting your camera bag down!

My wife Sheila and I started walking every morning for thirty minutes at the end of June. We’ve now gone 90+ days only missing a walk 3-5 times because of weather, and it’s become a habit. We’re both feeling better, sleeping better, and while we still have a long way to go to drop the weight we want to lose, the daily exercise is working.

The second thing I love about this post is that it’s personal. There’s nothing wrong with sharing personal topics on your blog as long as they’re relevant to your readership. “Mom” is Michele’s primary target audience and there isn’t a mother on the planet who can’t identify with her message.

Your blog topics don’t always have to be about photography – bring your life into the mix, but do it in a way that shows your ability to empathize with your readers. Being a parent, spouse, member of the community and business owner should give you plenty of material to talk about.

By Michele Celentano

I’ve said it before and I will say it again- Nothing works in my life if I am not working out.  It is not a luxury for me, it is an essential part of my life balance.  Of course, I know this but like most people, I forget sometimes.  It’s like taking a vitamin….  You don’t know you need it until you haven’t taken it for a while.

I’m like most of the population… (perfectly imperfect)  There are a lot of things that throw off my health and fitness goals.  Stress, hormonal changes, work, traveling, emotional eating (yes, I am one) socializing and anything else you can think of.  I’m also NOT one of those metabolically lucky people who can stay at their healthy weight without a lot of work – I have to work hard to maintain a healthy weight.  (in my next life I would like to request a faster metabolism)

A day off here or there – a cheat meal turns into a cheat day or worse yet a cheat week.  I start feeling yucky and blah…

And then I step on the scale to the horrifying reality that I put on 10 pounds.  On my small 4’11’’ frame – that is a lot.  Like most of us I’m emotionally beating myself up – feeling crappy, sluggish – clothes are snug and I hate the way I can feel my newly found fat hanging over my waistband.

My mood changes dramatically and all motivation goes out the window and chocolate is my best friend.

SNAP THE F**K OUT OF IT! It’s time to not let this thing run completely out of control (because we all know it’s easy to do) So, I pull up my big girl lycra workout pants, lace up my favorite Brooks running shoes and get my moody ass to the gym!

AND….. Bingo! I feel like a new person today!  I have a ton of energy after hitting it pretty hard at the gym these last couple of days.  A funny thing happens when I put in the time, energy and work at the gym – My mind won’t let me eat sh** food!  My brain literally says –  “oh hell no!  You just worked your ass off and that crap food is not worth it.  Let’s have some protein and some yummy veggies.”  Yeah- that is the way it works for me.  Working out never meant I could eat whatever crap I wanted to.  I become hard-wired to eat awesome body fueling clean food because I worked too hard to ruin my efforts with sh** food.

So this is my personal and public reminder that without my health and mental clarity nothing else in my life works well.  “Off course” doesn’t mean it’s all over – hands up – give up! Off course is temporary and on course is well within reach if you want it.  I prefer my normal energy levels which my husband calls “bouncing off walls at 100 miles per hour”!

Moody – low energy – weighed down – no way!  Not on my watch!

I surround myself with other fitness freaks like me.  They hold me accountable – call and say “hey- meet me for cardio at 4” (Terry Hay)

All it takes is one workout to get back on track and starting feeling better and like cheat meals become cheat weeks… One workout turns to 2 and 3 and 4 and HOLY SH** I feel great!

So, there it is.