Life changing

When I changed my lifestyle, I changed it for me. I knew it would be hard. It takes patience and commitment, but I knew I could do it. I have struggled and still do have some days that I do. But I am human. I am imperfectly perfect.  And I am okay with it.  I know when I get off track, and I don't let it defeat me. Instead, I just get right back to it and look at where it has brought me. Today I would not change this journey for the world. It is the best thing I have ever done for myself. I do what I love and and love who I am.

 From these lifestyle changes:

•  More comfortable and confident with myself. 
• More energy
• Better mood
• Eat better
• Proud of my body

Eat more

Many of you have probably heard 20% exercise and 80% diet. Because our diet is a large portion to living a healthier lifestyle, it is important that we talk about it.

Eating the right foods is key. You need to choose the right foods to provide your body with the nutrients it needs. When your body has the proper nutrients it needs, it will change your mood and provide you with more energy. As I mentioned in a later post of mine, look at the foods you are filling your body with. You may be surprised that most of us have been filling our selves with foods that have little to no nutritious value do to lot of our foods are high in sugars and unhealthy fats or processed. 

You should also eat regularly. Do not overeat but do not starve yourself. Eating smaller portions versus larger portions of healthier foods is said to help increase your metabolism and burn more calories. What this means is that you can eat 6 small nutritious meals rather then 3 larger meals. Spreading your meals into 6 small meals (eating every 3 hours) throughout the day will prevent you from overeating do to it causes your body to feel more full.

Fri-nally

It is finally Friday! Bring on the weekend, right?! I am super excited for the start of a fun weekend with my family. We will be leaving today to pick up our race packets in order to get them filled out and ready for tomorrow. Yep I said it.. tomorrow. In less then 24 hours, we will be participating in a hot chocolate run. Eek! Time flies when your expecting something fun.. at least I think so. It was like I had just told my family that I registered us all up for our first family run. Now, it's here. Well not quite but will be at 8:05 tomorrow morning.

I am so grateful not only to have my family participate in this run but also to be spending time with them all while doing something I enjoy. Even though they may not enjoy it, they were all willing to step out of their shell. After all, we are not all coordinated nor all athletic. However, it doesn't matter. We are all in it together. We are and will continue to support one another to be the best we can be. We will start together and end together. May not actually end together, but we will make sure each one of us get across that finish line.

Happy early Easter! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend with family and friends!

Dominate Monday

 It’s the day most of us dread. That’s right it’s Monday again. Yes, the weekend is over but don’t let it bring you down rather let this new week lift you up. Welcome it as it’s a new start. So... you might as well kick it off right! 

My alarm went off at 6 this morning. I could have decided to hit snooze on my alarm and rolled back over in bed. Nah. I told myself “not going to happen.” I was not going to allow my hand to

touch that snooze button, instead I choose to get up and get a half an hour of abs and arm workouts in. Monday was not taking me down. I dominated Monday to make it easier to go forward in the rest of week.

Path less traveled

Do you ever feel that when you exercise you take the same path? Are you scared someone will see you? Or are you just scared to adventure out? I am going to challenge you. I challenge you to take a different path.  It does not even need to be a path, you can make your own path. Don't be afraid. There is no right way to go. Be your own navigator. I feel that the best paths are the ones no one has been on. You don't need to feel scared, embarrassed, or terrified rather feel excited that you are starting a new adventure. Admire the new things you are surrounding yourself with. It will be worth taking a path less traveled on.

Be the leader not the follower.


Challenge accepted?!

Dress for success

Perhaps your contemplating on what to wear for your workout? To get yourself more motivated to workout,  choose workout attire that makes you feel great yet comfortable.  It does not matter the brand of the attire. I actually wear an assortment of different brands like Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas as well as Victoria Secret active attire and Gap active attire. I have the basics: crops, short, pants, t-shirts, tanks, and jackets.

Here are tips on choosing workout gear:

• form fitting vs tight or loose
• clothes that absorb sweat
• avoid cotton- it is not sweat resitant 
• clothes depending on weather-layerable
• Supportive- good shoes and bras

Detoxify

Have any of you ever done a detox? I have never done it before, but I am going to try it. If you do not know what a detox is, it is a cleanse that helps release unhealthy toxins that build up in your body. These unhealthy toxins that build up are caused because of the foods we eat and drink along with the products we use. Therefore, it is important we get rid of these toxins in order for our body systems to function properly.

I have done quite a bit of researching on the detoxes out there and realized there are lots of different types of detoxes out.  Even though there are a variety to choose from, I noticed that they are not all safe and healthy for one's body. Choosing a detox that is safe, healthy, and effective detox can provide lots of benefits for the body.

Because it is my first detox, I am going to try one called the 3 day refresh. I am very excited to try it and can't wait to see the results!

If anyone has ever done a detox please feel free to share information about it along with your results in the comment area.

Screaming for treats

Let's be honest health eating is not easy. Most of us have junk food cravings. It's hard to say no to these things because we are stressed or heck it seems like it just sitting there staring at us. Trust me I know the feeling. I am just going to eat one. It will be easy. I will just eat one and the cravings will be satisfied. Done by no one ever. Well, at least that my case. That saying is easier said then done. Once I would take one it seemed to lead to another then one more then one more after that. You get the gist. Instead of allowing myself to continue to indulge in the bad habit of junk food, I learned to not buy any. It makes it easier to resist these temptations. After all, if you don't have something it makes it hard to want to eat it.

Junk food does not give us anything. Yes it may give us satisfaction for a little bit, but soon after you are left feeling the same way you did before if not worse. These foods leave you feeling lousy and sluggish. So why choose to eat things that you "want" when it really is not necessary? I may really want that donut, cookie, chips (or whatever it may be) right now, but it is not necessary. Cravings are just a suggestion not a need. So why choose to eat food that is not going to give you the satisfaction of being full as well as give your body the nutritions and energy?

Here are a few healthy snacks:

• No bake energy balls- I don't add the chocolate chips in mine as I am not big on chocolate. There are also other recipes out there too. 
• http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

• Peanut butter nacho apples- Again I don't do the chocolate chips. 
• http://www.madetobeamomma.com/peanut-butter-apple-nachos/

• Strawberry banana ice cream
• http://www.simplecleanfitness.com/strawberry-banana-ice-cream.html

There are many other healthy snack recipes out there. All you need to do is look.  Feel free to share your favorite treat recipes!

Spring ahead

Happy first day of spring everyone!

Today was such a beautiful, refreshing spring welcome. With spring at our presence, we all know it comes time to spring cleaning. No, I do not mean spring cleaning of your house. I mean spring cleaning of your body . There is no better day then starting spring off with healthy eating habits. It's time to clean up our winter habits. Get rid of the winter comfort foods and welcome spring with better food choices. Invite more fresh, colored produce to your body like vegetables and fruits. As you there are many options to pick from, so don't limit yourself.

What are some clean recipes to add to these spring produces? Here are a few of my favorites: stuffed peppers, chicken parmesan, and chicken salad.

Here are the links to these recipes:

• Stuffed peppers- you can use any color of pepper you want. I have tried it with both red and green peppers. I love it either way. 
• http://www.getfitwithnikki.com/2015/05/santa-fe-stuffed-peppers-21-day-fix-friendly/

• Chicken parmesan- make it a pasta night with zoodle noodles or just simply add a vegetable with it. Again either way is delicious. 
• http://www.fitmomangelad.com/21-day-fix-chicken-parmesan/

• Chicken salad- I just use plain greek yogurt rather than making the honey mustard salad dressing for it. You can also place it on a wrap.
• http://fitbabysteps.com/2015/07/awesome-21-day-fix-chicken-salad-recipe/

Be a goal digger

30 more days... eek! 30 more days until what you may be asking? In 30 days, I will be running my next 5K. It will actually be my 5th run not including the town runs I have participated in for our town celebrations. Ever since I participated in my first 5K, I made a goal for myself to continue to do one every year. Needless to say, I have stuck with it.

• 5k color run
• 5k inflatable run
• 5k rugged maniac run
• 15k terrain run
• next up- 5K hot chocolate run

I love doing them that I have an ultimate goal of participating in a marathon within the next few years.

Why did I go back to the 5K rather than the 15K? Well, I chose to do a 5K versus the 15k this year because I have special group of people joining me. With that being said, I am excited to say my family will be participating in this run with me. I do not know how excited they are about it, but I am pumped. No we will not be going at the same pace nor do I expect them to run, and they are aware of it. May sound weird and/or dumb that But it is just an amazing feeling knowing that they are willing to take on a new experience.

Do you have any goals? How about a fitness goal? Goals are vital in our lives. They are what keep us motivated. They make us work that much harder. They are beginning of our dreams and our accomplishments at the end.

Shopping tips

Have you ever looked inside your grocery cart? What did you see in there?

Last year, I learned shopping tips from my coach about how to shop for the correct foods to fuel your body.  Here are the tips:

• The first shopping tip is to write down a list and stick with it. Going with a list of the items you need prevents you from picking up unnecessary things. We all know it is easy to throw extra things in the cart, especially, when we are hungry. 

• The next shopping tip is to shop the perimeters of the store- shop the U. Try to avoid the middle of the store. The reason is the middle of the store tends to have a lot of boxed items. These boxed items tend to have a  unknown ingredients as well as sugars, preservatives, and fats. Read the labels not the carbs. Rule of thumb is the less ingredients the better. 

•  The last tip is look inside your cart. Can you actually see you food? You should be able to see it. 

 As the saying goes, you are what you eat. Choose healthy!

Stay accountable

Do any of use a calendar to keep yourself organized?  I do. Let me tell you the day I don't have it is the day I feel lost. My calendar is literally my life. It is what keeps me on track of the things I have to do for the day. After I finish the things I am able to put a nice check mark by it. And man does that feel good. It is such an accomplishment.

Including your workout on a calendar is a great way to keep one accountable. It also is a great way to keep you consistent with your workout plan. It is really easy too. I mean there is no special instructions. All you have to do is write the word workout then do it. Once you do your exercise, you get to place a check mark by it. ✔ Simply easy and amazing, right?!

love handle exercises

Good morning everyone,

So, I got asked about exercises to work on our love handles. Some of you may even call them muffin tops but no matter what you decide to call it, we will be doing exercises to help target the area.  The love handles and/or muffin tops are the excess fat that sits on the sides of our waistline. We will be working on exercises that are focused on specifically working this area in order to help get rid of that unwanted fat. Attached below is the link for the exercises. In addition to these focused exercises, you will want to include cardio too. Cardio is important because it helps burn fat. And we are working on removing fat from our waistline area.

Although we will be doing exercises on this area, it actually takes more then exercise to eliminate it. It is a combination of exercise and diet (diet is the key). I am not saying to stop performing these exercises but don't expect to see results with strictly doing the exercises.  I will not be talking about the dieting in this post, however, it will be a topic that is discussed in the future.

Video link

https://youtu.be/Ne3r_hkTub8