It’s yours truly, Wendy Battles,  The Clean Eating Coach, mulling over the notion of how tough it can be to find balance between clean eating and consistent exercise.  When you fallen off the wagon, I always find that it doesn’t work so well to try to start eating clean and going to the gym regularly at the same time. I’m of the mind that you need to get one of the two endeavors going consistently and THEN add in the other.

I can use myself as a perfect example. For me, clean eating is a no-brainer. It’s on my priority list to plan, shop for and prepare clean eating meals on a weekly basis. I end up spending a lot of time in the kitchen but the truth is, almost everything I eat is fresh AND I save lots of money.  On the other hand, however, it’s taken me months to get back into a gym routine I can maintain.

I’m chocking most of this up to having some minor surgery in January that got me off track combined with the fact that I was uninspired at my old gym.  It used to be that I had a gym I liked (even though it wasn’t so aesthetically appealing) — friendly people and lots of classes to keep me motivated (I even met my husband there). When that gym closed, my husband and I signed up at another gym but it didn’t offer any classes, so lots of cardio machines and weights which was perfect for him, but far from inspiring for me.

It recently became clear to me that what I was doing, wasn’t really working.  I half-heartedly went through the motions on the cardio machines and just wasn’t excited about lifting weights the way I used to be. What did I need? A change to shake things up.

Several weeks ago I went to check out a gym that’s about 10 minutes away. It’s absolutely beautiful, the people are friendly and they’ve got tons of classes — 60 per week! I joined a few weeks ago, even though it’s a lot more expensive that my current gym, but it’s already worth it — I’m excited to exercise again and support my health. I’ve found my workout mojo and I’m having great fun mixing things up with classes, cardio and weights. Plus, there are lots of people from my old gym so it’s fun to see familiar faces.

Sometimes we just have to change things up and try something new. And the fact that I already had the clean eating down has made the transition to consistent exercise that much easier.  Now I’m finding that I’m in a good groove to do both and reap all the benefits (like feeling great in my bathing suit this summer!).  It may have taken me awhile, but persistence pays off, sometimes you just need to do some fine tuning.

What do you do to balance a clean eating lifestyle free of unhealthy fats, sugar and salt with consistent exercise that inspires you?

Filed under: Exercise, clean eating