Who is that sharp tongued harpy, and why is she in my head? I certainly didn’t invite her to join me, but she showed up around a decade ago and has overstayed her welcome for sure.

I would guess most women have a version of her lurking in the shadows of their consciousness, at the ready with a dig or doubt inducing comment about how we look, dress, wear our hair and, her all time favorite topics: our wrinkles, and our weight. She’s ruthless, snarky and callous and she undermines our confidence at every opportunity.

So, what is to be done about her? Here’s what I’ve found sends her back into the dark recesses of my mind, at least temporarily.

Be Realistic

I am now almost 66 years old. There are inevitable changes that have occurred over time. Acknowledging that and setting goals accordingly helps keep me in the present and not wasting my time lamenting over what I’ve lost or what has shown up unexpectantly.

Am I ever going to have the arms of a 20-year-old again? No. Can I exercise and keep my arms fit and strong as I age? Yes. Then that will be my goal, and I will be proud of my commitment and my discipline.

Don’t Compare Yourself to the Images You See Online

Those photos lie! Take a look at a few YouTube videos on how images are manipulated with Photoshop to see how incredibly prevalent this practice really is. This is true not only with celebs but also with many Instagram influencers who attract thousands of followers. They don’t look anything like their persona.

Appreciate Your Body for Its Functionality

I can still climb up steep trails, put in a full day as a chef, and undertake pretty much any endeavor that tempts me. Yes, my body aches now and then, occasionally I overdo it and have to spend a day recovering from the physical excursion, but I am grateful for the body I have and the freedom it provides. And I let that be enough.

Do Regular Maintenance

Personal care is an essential part of feeling healthy and confident. I try to keep my hair styled, extract those wild hairs that suddenly appear on my chin, moisturize my skin and, perhaps, even apply a little blush on my cheeks and give my lashes a few licks of mascara each morning.

I do this not for anyone else, but for me. Making an effort helps me feel I’m presenting the best version of myself each day.

Take Care of Your Body

Stay hydrated and well nourished. Your body will look and feel much better if you make this a priority. Make good choices about your diet and drink enough water to maintain that healthy glow. Also, be sure to breathe.

I know, it sounds crazy, but under stress we tend to tense up and hold our breath, taking only shallow breaths. Doing deep breathing exercises throughout the day increases metabolism and provides the oxygen every cell in your body needs.

It’s All a Matter of Focus

I read a quote years ago that I’ve come to realize is true for me: “What you focus on, will expand.” If I look at my perceived flaws every morning, if I constantly scrutinize my face for new wrinkles or the evidence of a few extra pounds settled on my hips, soon I’ll only see them and not the healthy, happy face smiling back at me in the mirror.

I have a choice. Instead of criticizing, I pick a feature I like, for me it’s my womanly curves. I appreciate them for they make me feel femine. Every day, every time I pass a mirror, I take a look and think, “Dang girl, you look good!”

You’ll be surprised, if you adopt these simple habits, how quickly this works and how much better you’ll feel about yourself. You’ll also notice a change in how others react to you. You’ll exude a sense of confidence and contentment that is palpable and appealing.

So, give it a try and remember, aging is inevitable. Hating it is an option, but loving it is a choice.

What is your best bodily feature? Do you appreciate it when you see yourself in the mirror? What positive thoughts do you use in your day? How do you maintain and take care of your body? Please share with the community!

There’ve been aerobic steps, cardio dance, running, walking, biking and everything in between when it comes to fitness routines. And through the years you have probably tried them all, but none of them felt “right” to you.

Most of the time when new clients reach out to me to get back into a fitness routine, they’ve been pretty consistent with walking, but they’ve fallen off the wagon when it comes to other forms of healthy movement.

It’s time to build a routine that keeps your body strong, builds your bone density, protects your joints, and gives you the vitality you deserve!

To do that, there are 4 types of exercises you need for your body, especially after 55: strength training, cardio, mobility and stretching, and balance exercises. Let’s dive into how we should approach each of these types of exercise and why they are so important for our body especially after 55. 

Strength Training

As early as our 30s, our body can start to lose muscle mass if we are not actively doing strength and resistance training to build our muscles. Strength training exercises can help to build muscle mass without making us bulky, build our bone density to prevent fractures, and protect our joints from those nagging aches and pains.

It’s especially important to choose exercises for our hips and our shoulders. Not only will this help our posture and keep us moving with ease, but it will also help us to continue to enjoy all of our favorite activities.

Strength training also helps to burn fat and keeps our metabolism working much longer and harder than cardio exercise. This is good news if you have found yourself with some extra pounds around the middle.

Strength training exercises should be done in sets of 8-15 repetitions with 2-4 sets of each exercise 2-4 times a week. Start slow and listen to your body. It can be tempting if you’ve been out of a routine to try to push yourself to make up for lost progress, but it’s better to start slow and steady and progress from there.

You want to pick a weight for your exercise that is going to give you a challenge by the last rep of your exercise. Our bodies are designed to and can quickly adapt, so you will quickly notice that you will need to move on from the 2 pound set of hand weights you have hiding under your bed.

We need to adjust the resistance, the intensity, or the demand on our body to continue to build the muscle we need to keep our bodies strong. Check out this quick video for a few full body exercises to get you started. 

Cardiovascular Exercise

The next type of exercise our bodies need is cardiovascular exercise. This is the most common type of exercise people think of when they want to get back into shape. It’s pretty easy to hop on the elliptical, go for a walk, jog, or run, or swim, bike, or dance. The problem occurs when you only focus on cardio.

Our bodies need a more well-rounded approach! Stick to shorter cardio bursts of 20-40 minutes instead of hours and pick any activity that you enjoy! The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderately intense exercise per week. 

Another way to get more out of your cardio sessions is to add some intervals. If you are walking, you can vary up your routine, add some hills, change your pace, or even add in some squats at a bench, step ups at the curb, or heel raises at the light pole.

Warm up your body at a steady pace for at least 5 minutes then add an interval of 20-60 seconds and then return to your steady pace. You can vary it up by adding more intervals or changing the activity of your intervals for your workouts.

You can dance it out, climb the stairs, do jacks or jog for your cardio intervals. In the video below I demonstrate a few low impact cardio bursts for you!

Mobility and Stretching Exercises

After 55, it’s imperative that you keep up your mobility and stretching. And during this time of pandemic living, it is even more important to keep moving.

Many of us have found ourselves moving even less than prior to the pandemic. We’re sitting for more hours, zooming, and not getting out as much as we had previously.

Mobility exercises can be very simple and they don’t need to be complex. Yoga is an excellent type of mobility exercise but you can also add small movement breaks throughout each day without a dedicated exercise session.

By using tools such as habit stacking, you create healthy habits and routines to support you. Habit stacking is a routine building tool where you add your exercises right after an activity that you already do daily.

Habit stacking works great to sprinkle additional movements throughout your day and keep you feeling full of energy. If you already know that you are going to be on a zoom call at a certain time, try standing for a portion of the call instead of sitting. And immediately afterwards, get some mobility exercise in.

Or if you sit all day on the computer for work, add in an extra walk up and down the stairs each time you go for a bathroom or meal break. Here are a few stretching exercises you can use to keep you moving and feeling full of energy.

Working on Balance

Last, but certainly not least, type of exercise that is especially important after 55, is balance exercises. As kids, we challenged our balance all day long from tag to running after our friends. Those quick direction changes, as well as balancing while walking along the curb, helped us create strong core muscles and built our balances.

There are two types of balance that are important for our bodies: static and dynamic balance. Static balance is the ability to stand on one foot. All the way up until our 90s, we should be able to maintain that single leg stance for 10 seconds.

In our 60s, 30 seconds is a great goal. This helps to prevent falls and promotes longevity. It’s easy enough to add this into our daily practice while washing dishes, brushing your teeth, pumping gas.  

Dynamic balance exercises insert movement to your day. Adding dynamic balance is as simple as getting away from seated exercises or weight machines and performing more dynamic strengthening exercises such as squats, lunges, and more.

Or maybe you enjoy dancing and adding in the grapevine – or other fancy footwork – gives you a challenge. Balance exercises are something you can quickly add in daily – just like your mobility exercises. 

Adding in your daily mobility and balance exercises and getting a few good strength and cardio workouts in your week will help to build your muscles, protect your joints, and bones, and help you to feel stronger, full of energy and even lose those stubborn pounds.

For a full guide to your workout routine and a couple quick workouts, download my free Thrive at 55 Guide.

How active were you before the pandemic? Has your activity level dropped in the past year? What kind of exercises have you been doing of late? Do you try to incorporate these four elements in your weekly exercise routine? Please share your efforts with the community!

After Billie Eilish rocked the Grammy Awards, TikTok was aflutter about her hair. At first, it didn’t look different but many believe she was actually wearing a wig to hide her new hair color. Now we know that could have been true. Eilish just debuted her blonde hair on Instagram and even broke a record with how many likes she got so quickly. Yes, it’s that good.

We knew a hair transformation was coming. In an Instagram story back in December, she told fans a hair change would come after the release of her Apple TV+ documentary, The World’s A Little Blurry. “It will be the end of an era,” Eilish said in her story. “I’m gonna give you a new era. I have announcements to make, I got some shit to put out.” Most people thought she was rocking red hair under her wig or another bright color.

No one seemed to expect Eilish to turn into a blonde bombshell complete with trendy curtain bangs.

Source: Instagram

The choppy cut gives the bright blonde a rockstar feel. It’s a huge change for the musician, who has had green and black hair for a year. “Did you guess correctly?” she asked on Instagram while shaking her hair to show all the hair. There’s something about going blonde that changes a person and brings out a ton of confidence.

Still, I can’t help but think this platinum hue is a step towards something different. Often a celebrity will go for a blonde base before debuting another colorful shade. But either way, Eilish looks stunning and you can tell she’s feeling herself.

Source: Instagram

Famous friends are losing it over this change. Storm Reid wrote “obsessed” while Skai Jackson said, “omgggg I love it.” As excited as we all are over this major transformation, we also know it’s because new music is coming and that definitely deserves a celebration.

After Billie Eilish rocked the Grammy Awards, TikTok was aflutter about her hair. At first, it didn’t look different but many believe she was actually wearing a wig to hide her new hair color. Now we know that could have been true. Eilish just debuted her blonde hair on Instagram and even broke a record with how many likes she got so quickly. Yes, it’s that good.

We knew a hair transformation was coming. In an Instagram story back in December, she told fans a hair change would come after the release of her Apple TV+ documentary, The World’s A Little Blurry. “It will be the end of an era,” Eilish said in her story. “I’m gonna give you a new era. I have announcements to make, I got some shit to put out.” Most people thought she was rocking red hair under her wig or another bright color.

No one seemed to expect Eilish to turn into a blonde bombshell complete with trendy curtain bangs.

Source: Instagram

The choppy cut gives the bright blonde a rockstar feel. It’s a huge change for the musician, who has had green and black hair for a year. “Did you guess correctly?” she asked on Instagram while shaking her hair to show all the hair. There’s something about going blonde that changes a person and brings out a ton of confidence.

Still, I can’t help but think this platinum hue is a step towards something different. Often a celebrity will go for a blonde base before debuting another colorful shade. But either way, Eilish looks stunning and you can tell she’s feeling herself.

Source: Instagram

Famous friends are losing it over this change. Storm Reid wrote “obsessed” while Skai Jackson said, “omgggg I love it.” As excited as we all are over this major transformation, we also know it’s because new music is coming and that definitely deserves a celebration.

Kameron Westcott’s Rose Gold Aviator Sunglasses at Home

Real Housewives of Dallas Season 5 Episode 10 Fashion

While Kameron Westcott’s husband may not be totally upfront with her regarding the status of their house listing, we want to be totally upfront with you regarding the listing of her rose gold aviator sunglasses by telling you that they are 80%(!!!) off right now. And if you’re an interested buyer, well needless to say you should probably scroll on down below this second before you see their status quickly turn to pending sold out. 

Fashionably,

Faryn

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Originally posted at: Kameron Westcott’s Rose Gold Aviator Sunglasses