I used to post Fit Tip Fridays on the last day of the week.  I am making a change to include more than Fitness Tips and include things I may have seen, read or even just plain experienced over the week.  The above sign is a perfect example.  I went on a little shopping trip with my mother yesterday and ran across this sign.  It immediately made its way into my car and into my kitchen.

If you have read some of  my past blog posts you may have heard me say that I'm not a big believer in luck.  I do believe in hard work.  When it comes to my boys I don't think I've ever wished them good luck.  Whether it is a big game, a practice or a test, I always say, "Work hard!"   I'm also known to say "Work hard!" to clients or participants in exercise classes.  Ask them.  It's probably pretty annoying.  

As far as the "Be Nice" part, I live in a house of four boys (yes, I'm including the Husband).  I think that says it all.  I'd be rolling in the dough if I had a dollar everytime I said "Be nice."

So, this is a good Friday Find with a good reminder.  Nothing replaces hard work.  We don't have to be the smartest person, most talented or most athletic, but we can definitely be the hardest workers!  And being nice also goes a long way! 
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THERE'S A NEW DIET IN TOWN

Have your heard about the new diet?  The 8 Hour Diet?
It was brought to by Men’s Health magazine Editor Peter Moore and former Editor-in-Chief David Zinczenko, the biggest selling point of the diet – aside from simplicity, deceased weight and increased health – may be that you get to eat anything you want. 
The premise is that you can eat anything you want for eight hours but then you have to stop eating and allow your body to fast for the next 16 hours.  Well, that is anything you want for eight hours at a time, alternating with 16 hours of fasting.
 
This means that you decide on an hour when you will begin eating for the day and eat up until the 8th hour and then stop eating.  This isn't a free for all  8 hour eating fest, though.  If you spend 8 hours eating only junk  you will see no benefit.  There needs to be a balance of healthy and nutritious foods so you will feel good, feed your body in the good way and still limit the amount of foods entering your body.  "But the point is that this diet is conceived around when you eat, not what you eat. And it can be done as little as once a week or as frequently as every day."
 
The book does go into the science behind the concept, talks about the fasting myth, and shows how to maximize the health benefits of the diet. It offers recipes, eight-minute workouts to "turbo-charge" the plan, and 100 things (science-based tips) to do instead of eating. 

So, here's another book to add to my reading list.  I have a friend who is doing this and loves it!  Although she is only 3 days in, but it sounds as if it is something you can do one day a week or for a limited amount of time and feel the benefits. 

In keeping with my New Year's Resolution to find and see the joy in my days and week.  I want to end with this photo of a bumper sticker I ran across.  I have posted this photo before, but wanted to have a "re-do" as a reminder to myself and anyone out there who might need it.  

It makes me think of all of the times I've thought about doing something, but immediately thought, not now.  I need to do x, y and z before I do this fun thing.  Or, worse, how about the "I'll do it when I lose 5 pounds. . . ." or some other sort of put off.  I am here to say we cannot put off finding or making fun and joyful times.  It doesn't even have to be a big thing.  Last night, it was simply having a very last minute dinner with three other friends.  (And I almost didn't go because the power went out, and somehow, that was a reason to stay home with a house full of boys who were happily playing cards by flashlight?)