One of the most important parts of The Happiness Bucket is our focus on self development and for many of our members that translates into living a healthier lifestyle.  When most think of healthy lifestyles they think about weight loss and dieting.  Well today I want to give you a window into my healthy lifestyle journey.
<h1>Determine What Works For You</h1>
The first thing I want to make clear to you is that I, like many, have my ups and downs when it comes to weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle.  I have finally found something that works, but that wasn't always the case and my way may not be your way.  So, I really want you to understand that you have to find what works for you and your life today.

Don't try to be a marathon runner if that doesn't bring you joy or isn't something you feel is sustainable.  Now, I'm not saying not to try new or hard things, so make sure you put this into perspective.  Challenge yourself but also be real with yourself too.  Identify things that you find interest in from a healthy lifestyle standpoint and cultivate that.
<h1>Make Healthy Living Fun</h1>
The one thing I standby when it comes to having a healthy lifestyle, specifically exercising is it has to be fun for me.  If I enjoy it, I am more likely to keep it up.  Think about it, when your friends say come on and lets go play basketball, if you like to play basketball you are like cool lets go. If you detest basketball then you are going to come up with excuse after excuse of why you can't go or will drag your feet.

When I was looking for something to get me started the one thing I found that I thoroughly enjoyed was dancing.  I mean think about it, back in the day you would go to the club and dance your booty off for hours.  You were just having fun, but you were getting your heart rate up and sweating up a storm...but you were having fun.  Well, I decided to take up salsa dancing and boy oh boy was it fun!  I learned a new skill, met lots of new people, got exercise AND met my dear husband in the process.
<h1>Get Healthy With Workout DVDs</h1>
Ok, so for some of you dancing isn't your thing and you just want to do something at home, well I've been there too.  I went through a period when I was wanting something I could do at home by myself.  I didn't want to have to buy a bunch of equipment either.  While I was on vacation, I saw an infomercial for both P90X and Insanity.  Both looked intriguing but I wasn't sure which was best.

I began researching and asking around and a very fit friend of mine said he had done both videos and suggested I get insanity because it was more cardio based.  Well, I borrowed the Insanity CD from a friend and man!!!!

Now to be fair, the DVD set came with two CDs.  Insanity CD 1 included a test that you are supposed to complete every other week (I think) and Insanity CD 2 was the cardio session. I watched these CDs and although inspired I immediate got scared. I was afraid I would get discouraged part of the way through because many of his background exercisers weren't smiling and having a great time as you see in most videos, 10 mins in many were bending over (in the middle of the exercise) as though they were about to throw up! On one they showed them throwing up!!! I though what the world, usually on videos they have the most fit people doing the exercises so if they are reacting that way I can only imagine how I will react!!!

I figure for him to show that on the CD that it was reality and that this CD was no joke! That being said, the overall method Sean T uses seems to make a lot of sense...you give high intensity cardio for 3 mins and rest for 30 secs. (The normal method is you do moderate exercise for 3 mins and do high intensity for 30 secs). Each time you go back after the break/rest period the exercise changes. Although the exercises being performed aren't hard, it's the sheer intensity level that shocks your system.

Sooooo, needless to say, after watching these CDs and giving myself a reality check I decided to do another video that Sean T has called Hip Hop Abs.  I know that exercising requires motivation and drive and I am one that if discouraged won't do it...but if I do something that I can handle and it either begins getting too easy or I start seeing results I add more and more to it...so my hope was that I would work up to the insanity level of exercise.

<a href="http://thehappinessbucket.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/20120813-000504.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" src="http://thehappinessbucket.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/20120813-000504.jpg" alt="20120813-000504.jpg" /></a>

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I was really drawn to the Hip Hop Abs video because you don't have to get on the ground and you are still working your abdominal muscles. It has a lot of isolation using dance moves so it works other areas since you are standing up and doing cardio in the process. I can tell you it definitely affected some of my muscles since I felt pain the next day and all I did was the intro session, which was about 20 mins and about 10 mins of the cardio section, which is 45 mins. The part I did was fun and it wasn't too hard to follow.  I could definitely see how it could help my abs and my problem areas.  Now, some of the things Sean says on the CD was a little corny or dated, but who cares...the music was cool and he gave great instruction. [Note: this was back in 2017, so I am not sure how "cool" the music would be today.  The exercises would still work but it was dated then so I'm sure it is really dated now]

I have shifted to living a ketogenic lifestyle and it is working like gangbusters for me.  If you are interested in learning in learning all my tips and tricks on how to begin your keto journey, join me in <a href="http://thehappinessbucket.com/clubketo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">club keto</a>.

I would love to hear about your healthy journey.  What are you doing to stay healthy, get healthy or just get started?  No more excuses people!

Lets Move!!!!  Come on, fill your Healthy Bucket today!

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