Get into character for a healthy Halloween!
Mon, Oct 29, 2012
Yep.
It’s Halloween week and posts which focus on having a happy and healthy one abound.
Suggestions for satiety. Prompts for passing on the candy. Tips for tossing away the sweets in favor of the raw veggies.
Traditional tips which completely work, but just arent how we roll up in herre.
This year we’re taking DIFFERENT approach to Halloween than we have in (more adult) years past.
We’re joining the kids, we’re donning the costumes, we’re RIDING THAT CHARACTER wavvvvve to a healthy Halloween.
Because really, what is fitness, healthy living and overall LIFE many days except PLAYING A CRAZY CHARACTER FAKING IT TILL WE MAKE IT ?
My three tips for how getting into character can create your healthiest Halloween ever:
- Create a narrative. Dressing up is optional (sigh. I guess.)—but the creation of a narrative is not. Tonight you’re an actor. Ask yourself what your motivation is? challenge yourself as to why you are striving to be healthy to night and in general. Next consider all areas of your life. What would healthy you/your character eat on a daily basis? How would you dress & how would this show the world how you feel about yourself? How would you walk down the street etc. Tonight (& perhaps longer?) commit to responding to all scenarios as your ‘healthy self’ or character.
- Share your costume-plan. As zany as it sounds, when you share your role-playing plan with your support people it really helps. I tend to (over)share everything with Ren Man. I clearly recall sharing this concept with him close to two decades ago. At that point it was intended as ONE NIGHT for me—but the subtle almost imperceptible shift in how he began to affirm the way I saw myself that night kept me on the path to change. Bring your inner-circle into the act-as-if plan. Loving accountability partners have helped me to sustain my lifechanges for almost twenty years.
- Respond as your CHARACTER/healthy self. This week—and if youre me next week when the candy is all on sale—temptation abounds. Parties. Bowls of candy out at work. Halloween can be a healthy living minefield—but not to our healthy living character-self. Would our Halloween character skip workouts for couch time? Would costumed-you *really* select a Snickers over simply hanging out and enjoying conversation? Before you respond to *anything* this Halloween challenge yourself with regards to how your character/healthier self would react. Change your mindset. Change your body. It’s that simple.
Quite frankly, upon further reflection & introspection, Ive realized this is how I live the *other* 364 days of the year too.
Do I feel like SKIPPING CARDIO? Am I not in the mood to git my PLAYOUT on?
I ask myself what my SUPERHEROINE counterpart would do.
Am I longing to skip some good whole, clean foods meal preparation in favor of a fast, processed’y snack?
I ask my self how the dainty Queen would dine.
I act as if….when Im not feeling ‘as if’…ALL YEAR LONG.
I challenge you to join me this Halloween and, if youre up for it, through the next twenty or thirty decades as well.
What’s your BEST fake it till you make it tip?
How do you plan to cruise through candy season staying in character & living healthy?
Do you find it odd Im dressing up as a Terrible Towel Wednesday night?
Tags: acting as if, Happy almost Halloween
FUN post! We’re being a football team for halloween (me, Kay & Josh). I’ll just pretend I have to be one of the ones that doesn’t get to pack on the pounds
You are so cute in your costume. And I love this idea. It actually works! When you “fake it till you make it” as I say sometimes, it makes it easier to make a good decision when you’re not ‘feelin it’. I need to remember this trick more often! Would healthy super Andrea go back to bed? Or would she get up and get to spinning class? It’s settled- I’m off to spinning! Have a great day and thanks for the great post!
I was planning on being “Where’s Waldo?” for Halloween. Not sure of where he stands on food and exercise. Although, he must be way into staying active. He’s a world traveler!
Love your costumes!
You are so creative, Miz.
FANTASTIC IDEA.
I like the “change your mindset” attitude. I also like to have a couple of mantras like Janetha posted last week up my sleeve.
Happy Monday!
This is awesome, Miz.
I need to focus more on answering like my marathon self when it comes to candy.
And OMG the cape photo.
I used to do a lot of acting in local theater and I love the idea of creating a narrative.
VERY creative, Carla.
I’m going as an Angry Bird this year. It’s ok, I’m not really angry….just got an awesome deal on it after last Halloween on clearance.
Uh oh.
I’m going as a french fry LOL!!
Ha – clever! It really does take a lot of mental strength to power through candy season… I mean, Halloween.
As a psych teacher I go over an entire Chapter on Emotions – how we feel them, label them, etc.
One of the tips from the book is to smile, even when you don’t feel like it – and the muscles moving on your face to make it ‘look happy’ also tell your brain to FEEL happy so it really is a case of ‘fake it until you make it’!
I was an undergrad theater major and used to always challenge myself:
“What’s my motivation?”
I’ve never wondered what my motivation to NOT snarf sugar is.
You look awesome in your costumes!
I’ve already had too much candy, ergh!
Those are some nice guns for fighting off the unhealthy lifestyle! Love this concept. I’m going to live it.
I think that’s the best character. Scary? No, fun! Tell the mind to have fun. New mindset is the way to go.
Ohhhhhh. Halloween is this week. Oops.
Unrelated, but I love your tattoos!
This year I’m forced not to partake due to the competition, but Halloween actually isn’t a tough holiday for me to stay on track. I’m not a bog candy person. Thanksgiving and Christmas… that’s another story… I love cookies and cakes!
Yeah, I’ve already done two versions of Harpo!! With the holiday falling mid-week, parties have been happening PRN!
Love this & the ideas!!! I really don’t change my life for holidays anymore… I really do just eat & move on as every other day, Yes, I may plan for an extra treat or two BUT I eat all the other meals healthy & keep to my exercise so I have been able to survive the holidays with all my years of learning.
I see myself as fit, yet not sexy like your first pic so I am not even sure what I would dress up as IF I did. I have not dressed up for YEARS!!!!!
You are one of a kind Carla!
Love the costumes!!! I feel like I’m better over the holidays than other times of the year…guess I’m super focused so those treats don’t get me!
I’m going as a haggard new mom this year….oh wait that’s not a costume!
ok so I may steal your costume idea.
except I shall tweak and be an haggard not-so-new mom
Wow, fantastic idea Miz!
fun post, love costumes! we aren’t going to any parties and don’t have kids to take around for candy so we won’t be dressing up, but that’s ok!
Love it! Fun and fit. Happy Halloween
I really enjoy this concept! Love the costume idea!
Gosh, you’re just too cute any way you slice it! Happy Halloween!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the costumes! And interesting idea about acting out the character… note to self: perhaps The Cookie Monster might not be a wise choice.
I’ll say it again…I love those gogo boots
I rocked the Lady Vader costume this weekend…I so very much love Halloween!
I shall be Popeye the Sailor Man, as I need some reminders to up my leafy green intake now that the weather’s changed and my garden greens have died!
Thanks for this fresh perspective!
I like this idea a lot! I have two big challenges left this year – the marathon, and then transitioning into a more normal human existance for a while (and thus not working out/eating like an endurance athlete furnace). I’m not sure which will be harder!
(Hit submit too soon)
And thus, I’ll just need to ask myself with each choice “what will SUPER QUIX do”?
SERIOUSLY THAT MADE ME GRIN.
Amen and Amen!
In the past i’ve heard both Act As If and Fake It ‘Til You Make It.
The positive of Act As If inspires me more, and i began trying to do that on a few issues in the past couple of weeks!
It’s working, too.
I really like this idea! Putting yourself into “character” to help you make better decisions – it’s like channeling a superpower strength that’s not your own. (Writing that, I realize that if I claim to get that from Christ then I need to bring Him into my daily struggles like with food and self control – the things that seem like I “should” be able to handle them myself! Duly noted – again.)
Fake it til you make it? Not much to add there – you’ve got it pretty well covered! I just ask myself is it worth it…most the time it is, so that means I can’t complain about not having the abs I want.
So since I was a mop for Halloween, perhaps I should ask, “What would mop head do?” – can you come up with anything catchy for mop head?!
Great post as usual, Miz…Happy Halloween week!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the costumes, my “internet sister”!
And love the message in this post. Happy Monday!!!
I love this post. Get into character, my friends! Amazing message as always.
My boyfriend and I are going as Pinky and the Brain this year. But more of an interpretation. Because otherwise those would be pretty difficult costumes…;)
Great post just staying in this year with the wife to pass out candy and watch Halloween movies. Hope you have a great Halloween.
LOVE this.
you have brought up a very excellent points , thanks for the post.
What an awesome post! Love it! And omg your daughter is adorable!
Yah, this is a great post. I’m most impressed with the fact that you can kind of step away from what you’ve been doing for so long and isolate the smaller pieces that have made up your once-habits-now-lifestyle and explain them to us as tips. Broken down for better understanding. The sign of mindfulness. Thanks for being wonderful!
what else does she have to think about…not 50 children that belong to someone else, that’s for sure. lucky her.
Great post! I’m going as ME this year. It took me so long to get semi-comfortable in this skin that I don’t want to camouflage it.
All of your costumes are fun and you look great in all of them! I don’t do anything for Halloween so I’m not around the usual temptations.
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I love reading your posts! Is it weird to sit here and think MizFit has a great vocabulary
Such a creative approach to a healthy halloween!
I definitely faked it … and now I’m happy to say that I’ve pretty much made it. My mind finally ‘got’ why I was making the decision that was I making and working out the way I was. As soon as my actions and thoughts clicked, everything else started falling into place.
There are still some days when it’s a struggle, and those are the days when I bully myself into getting to the gym anyway and not eating something that I know I’ll regret later.
I tend to binge Halloween night :/
I may give this a shot as it cannot hurt.
I’m trying this!!!!
Good god, girl. Look at those biceps! You ARE a superheroine! Cheers~
LOVE THIS!!!
I want orange frosting on pumpkin sugar cookies, musketeer bars and popcorn balls and home made glazed doughnuts with cider. Had all that as a kid. I am not fat as an adult. Either is my kid. A few times a year doesn’t hurt. Chia seeds and raisins in my treat bag…no way! (even apples were thrown away!)
No Halloween costume here, but I love handing out candy to all the cuties (many of them former students) in their costumes.
I must admit though I always feel kind of like a superhero when I am running, I guess that is part of the fake it until you make it theory.
Nice!… totally ashamed to admit this is the first year I failed to even consider dressing up to trick or treat with my kids
I have been trying to get muscles for a while but I didn’t really know where to look. Thanks for great post, I learned a lot from it.
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Awesome list of quotes. They all hit home in one way or another <3