Read an Excerpt
Introduction
You are a miracle, a gift from your parents. Since your life began, you've been nurtured and cared for, to become who you are today. As a teenager your care is not only the responsibility of those around you — but it begins to become yours. Eventually, no one else is going to take charge of your body. The choices will be yours. On all levels, especially emotional and physical, your teen years are a period of tremendous transition. I like to think of this part of your life as a challenge. What better time, before you're completely on your own and while your body is naturally young and wholesome, to create a fitness plan that will allow you to lead a healthy, energetic, and meaningful life? I guarantee that when you are fit, you will have a greater ability to take control of your life and make decisions that are best for you. If you continue your fitness program into adulthood, you will be amazed at the abundant possibilities and opportunities that fill your life. You will also be surprised by the many challenges you are able to meet and overcome.
From the day I was born, I was a kid in perpetual motion. "Active" could have been my middle name. It's no wonder that gym class was my favorite and that I participated in every sport possible. My goal was to become a P.E. teacher. Instead, after college, my zest for fitness led me to numerous career opportunities, including aerobics director for Racquet World Health Club; one of the program directors at Jane Fonda's Laurel Springs Spa (wow!); my own training business (which still continues to grow), including celebrity clientele such as DrewBarrymore, Denise Richards, Claire Forlani, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and Michelle Pfeiffer; my first exercise video; my first book, Real World Fitness; and monthly magazine columns. To top it all off, for the last eight years I've been the fitness consultant on Today. That means the East Coast-West Coast trek on a regular basis.
Yep — all of this and a family too! Do I get tired? You bet I do, but all of the energy I put into my life just gives me the ability to do more!
This is not a "trendy" diet book or a magical fitness book. No, you will not wake up with thinner thighs in ten days. My goal is to help you develop a fit body in a fun way that you can expand on for the rest of your life. I want to share my energy and motivation with you so that you too will be able to eagerly take advantage of all the opportunities your life will bring.
I will teach you how to make your days more active without thinking you're exercising. Once you realize how good you feel and see the subtle changes that are beginning to happen to your body, you will see how being physically fit is easy and anyone can achieve it. I have provided two workouts that you can do regardless of where you are.
Exercise alone will not work. Nutrition plays an essential role as well. I will thoroughly discuss healthy food guidelines and easy-to-follow eating habits, though I'm not going to provide you with a specific diet to lose weight. It won't work because you're growing and changing every day. All that is required for you to reach a healthy weight for your height and bone structure is to eat from the different food groups in a balanced and moderate way. And activity is required. Lots of physical activity.
This is what fitness is all about. It's that fine balance between the right amount of physical activity and proper nutrition. Fitness is not about having a perfect body — an impossible and highly subjective goal anyway. Fitness is about having a body that feels good!
Ideally, this book will get you started on a fitness path that you can follow for the rest of your life. You can't imagine what some adults go through who have put it off. They believed how they looked in their teens and twenties would last forever. Suddenly different parts of their bodies sagged, they found themselves winded after going up one flight of stairs, and they might be dealing with health problems that originate from a lack of activity. Not knowing what to do, they try every crazy diet under the sun and spend tons of money on workout equipment they rarely use. And they have no concept of the words moderation and consistency.
This book will provide you with the best tools for integrating fitness into your life. And believe me, good fitness habits practiced now will eventually become as automatic as brushing your teeth. Once established, it's a routine you'll never stop.
Since fitness has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, I made a lot of good choices early on that help me with my body, help me have a successful career, and help me manage my life today. But it wasn't always this way.
When I was younger, because I didn't think I looked perfect enough, I made many bad choices involving my diet that taught me some hard lessons. Due to my bad body image, I had to get seriously ill first with bulimia before I could begin to get genuinely fit. I even ended up hospitalized a couple of times — talk about humiliating and embarrassing! The first thing I want to do is share my personal story with you so maybe, just maybe, I can help you avoid those bad, at times fatal, fitness habits.
When you finish this book, I hope you realize that this is the optimal time in your life to take control of your body by taking action, carefully choosing your food and exercise options, as your future is taking...
Teenage Fitness. Copyright © by Kathy Kaehler. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
