Maggie Downie, Author at Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.

Why You Really Want a Toned Butt

This is not a picture of my butt, but it is a picture of me hiking. And without my butt, I wouldn’t go hiking!

No doubt many of us would like a lifted and toned butt. The look is appealing, but strong glutes (those are our butt muscles) are important for more than aesthetics.

Standing & Posture

Our glutes have an important role in keep us upright all day. We often take that for granted. The back and butt work together to hold us up straight. Our tendency to sit and slump makes their job even harder. Daily glute exercises would be a great habit to get into. They are large muscles. They can take daily workouts.

Strength

The glute max is the largest muscle in the body. It’s the back of the butt. When you think of the butt, you are thinking of the glute max. The muscle is a major mover in propelling us forward with every step. If you are an athlete you need your butt to propel you forward and up in nearly every movement you do. Athlete or not, if you walk or jog your butt is required so that […]

Why You Really Want a Toned ButtMaggie Downie2018-02-09T14:42:25-05:00

Six Tips for Eating Healthy

Playing with my food.

After a yet another month of mindful eating, I’ve come up with six tips for eating healthy.

Distraction

Being busy definitely helped me stay on track. It is much harder to eat right on the weekend when there is no set schedule, but lots of fun activities. In some ways that’s a sad statement. It is almost like saying I eat when I’m bored. But there is one tool I’ve always used that sometimes works and sometimes does not. If I want to eat and I think it’s just for the sake of eating, I take a walk or start doing some exercise. If afterward I still want the food I can have it. If nothing else, at least I’ve added more movement before eating something I perhaps should have skipped.

Planning & Prep

Having healthy snacks ready and on hand makes all the difference in the world. Junk food is very easy to grab. The good news is if pressed for time, there are locations that we can buy premade healthy options. For me, nuts was an easy snack to have around. But if you are a cheese lover maybe […]

Six Tips for Eating HealthyMaggie Downie2018-02-09T14:25:38-05:00

Instructor Highlight Elaine

Elaine joined the Personal Euphoria team in fall of 2017. She teaches barre and yoga. You can currently find her teaching in Glastonbury and Wethersfield. Here’s her instructor highlight!

Get to know Elaine:

When you aren’t teaching what are some of your favorite ways to move?

I love hiking and skiing and try to personally practice yoga whenever I can. I ran my first half marathon this year so I guess I will cautiously call myself a runner too!

What song motivates or picks you up the most?

This is a tough one! It changes depending on my mood and the decade!

Favorite Food?

Avocados!

Time you normally crawl into bed?

11:00pm but I am working on getting to bed earlier!

What skill would you like to master?

Physically… pull ups. In life… patience!

What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?

A back packing trip through Europe! I should have done it in my 20’s but now it’s my goal is to do it in 40’s!

Favorite season? Why?

Summer, everything about it! The sun, the heat, the ocean, swimming, boating, kayaking, camping. The list goes on.

Best advice you’ve ever gotten?

Everything you need you already have!

Did you see […]

Instructor Highlight ElaineMaggie Downie2018-02-02T10:17:58-05:00

Live Longer

My Grandma inside the igloo for her 89th birthday!

My Grandma will be 92 tomorrow. She lives on her own, cooks for herself, loves the movies, and is interesting to talk to. She has moments of forgetfulness and relays a lot of stories from the past and her youth. Now and then my mom will call me to tell me she is worried my Grandma might be losing it a little. Sometimes my mom seems right and other times I say, “I do the same thing. If Grandma has dementia then I must too.”

A week after Christmas my Grandma called me to thank me for the beautiful amaryllis I’d given her for Christmas. She left a message and as I listened, I grew a little sad. I had not given her an amaryllis. Perhaps my mom was more right than I realized. Someone else deserved this thank you. Not me. It signaled that my Grandma seemed to be losing it.

Later that night when Matt arrived home, I told him about my Grandma’s message and how my mom might be onto something. “I didn’t get her an amaryllis,” I told him. “Yes, […]

Live LongerMaggie Downie2018-02-14T15:54:22-05:00

Mindful Eating Challenge

Years ago I started doing the No-Sugar February Challenge. It has evolved into the Mindful Eating Challenge. That means if giving up sugar isn’t really beneficial for you—maybe you aren’t the addict I am—you can choose a challenge that fits your needs for the shortest month of the year.

Challenge Suggestions (pick one or all):

Give up sugar (or whatever your vice is).

Make sure you aren’t distracted while eating. Take time to stop and eat. That means no eating in front of the television, Facebook, or while doing the crossword.

Try not to overeat at meals.

Try to include more veggies (perhaps even a veggie at every meal).

Use an app or excel spreadsheet to record everything you eat and watch calories in vs. out.

Try to drink more water, reduce caffeine or cut out beverages with calories.

Select a program like the Whole30, Paleo, vegan or some other food related lifestyle you’ve been interested in experimenting with.

Take a picture of all your food and text it to a friend.

Details:

We started a Facebook group if knowing you aren’t alone is helpful. It’s the Mindful Eating Challenge group with lettuce leaves as its profile picture. The challenge starts […]

Mindful Eating ChallengeMaggie Downie2018-02-14T15:56:37-05:00

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