A new Year, a new chance

So we are two days away from 2013. What kind of life are you going to live? What changes are you going to make? This is the time of year where everyone is making their resolutions. Have you made yours? Do it!!! Grab a pad of paper and do write them NOW!!! After you write them down, post that paper where you will see it all the time. Do not make impossible goals. Instead of saying, "lose 20lbs this month", look at the reasons why you are overweight. Maybe you workout a lot but you eat really crappy. Set specific goals that will help you lose the weight. For example, less carbs and more protein. Or eat a bigger breakfast and a smaller dinner, or eat more vegetables. Those will be easier to follow then the typical, "just to lose weight". Find something that will keep you motivated. My thing was pinterest and facebook, yes you read that right. I pinned everything under the sun that was related to health and fitness. Same thing with facebook, I like all the fitness pages I could find. Facebook especially kept me motivated. The pages were always posting positive and motivating comments. I got tons of ideas on healthy food and habits. I absorbed every piece of information I could. The pictures of girls with rock hard bodies also kept me going, kept me motivated, but that is what worked for me. Find what works for you. Post that invitation to your school reunion, or hang that bikini you want to wear this summer. Whatever keeps YOU working hard!!! The biggest thing is do not give up. We are human and we will slip up. But do not stop working toward your goal because you ate the entire cake. Brush it off and start fresh the next day, but DO NOT give up!!! So write out your goals and make 2013 the best year yet. Here are my goals...

1. Drink more water (I do well at work bc I have a system of when I drink water, but at home I slack a bit)
2. Pick a goal (such as a triathlon, crossfit comp...) to work towards after the wedding. I need to sign up and pay for one by the end of next year
4. Stick to starbucks to only once a week (I am a starbucks addict- this is for financially and health)
5. Eat more vegetables!!!
6. Stick to only one cheat meal a week (again I am human and I slip up)
7. Save money!!!
8. Get mostly As at ASU
9. Have more patience and calm when plans change
10. BE A GOOD WIFEY (after June 28 ;) haha )

your turn....

A year later...

About a year ago, I decided to change my life. I chose to change my eating habits and live a different lifestyle. Throughout the journey I have gotten a lot of different responses from the journey. In the beginning, everyone was very supportive. I threw out all the junk food, decided to start eating clean/organic and stuck my butt in the gym religiously at least two hours a day to drip from cardio, two hours AT LEAST. I loss the weight slowly but surely. I eventually saw a nutritionist and found out several things, including my metabolism. This helped tremendously and I lost even more weight. I still heard all positive reactions. It was not until I started eating more, working out less but lifting more weights and really saw my body transform into something I never dreamed it would ever be, that the negativity began. I have always been able to put on muscle fast. I was always a swimmer and was known for my shoulders. I liked it though. I was always more envious of the muscular girls then the skinny ones. I personally think it is more attractive, yet I know many don't. But changing my workout routine, into weights and then more crossfit style workouts, helped me put on amazing muscle and put it on fast. I saw muscles I have never seen before on me, including abs. At this point I had a new look on life. This change, gave me more energy, made me happy and allowed me to love my body. But in the beginning, and still at times, it is hard hearing people be negative about what makes me happy. I have never been unhealthy about what I do. I never starve myself and I do not over train. I work out about 2 hours a day, three times a week. I try to get at least 2 other days in the week in the gym just lifting weights, which usually only takes me 45 mins and I am lucky if I do that. I eat clean and when I am in the gym, I work my butt off. That is how I do it. No drugs, and no starving myself. It is weird that when I was being unhealthy, no one said anything, but now that I am, people all of a sudden pipe up. strange. I have gotten that I am too masculine, that I work out too much, I have been asked if my fiancé likes me having this much muscle and much more slamming my body. Overall, it has been an amazing journey. It has. I have and so have many others, noticed a huge change in my attitude. I have more of a drive in life. I believe it had even helped me do well in school. It has changed many aspects in my life, not just weight. Part of being healthy is loving yourself, and I have learned how to do that again. Yes, I still look at parts of my body that I do not like, but I don't think that will ever go away. That just motivates me to work hard, to change it. But I have also realized that I wont be perfect and I am ok with that. I am really excited where I will be next year. I really hope I have trained for something. I don't know what yet. Whether it is a crossfit competition, a triathlon, or even a fitness competition, I hope I have achieved it. This journey has changed my life. I hope others will experience something that brings them such joy this coming year as I have. Set your goals and do not stop until you smash them. The journey will be hard but it will be worth it. People will not agree with what you do, but if you are being smart about it and it is making you happy, use it as motivation, Start working towards your goal today, do not wait. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!



JAN 12/ MAY 12/ DEC 12

If you want to lose weight, then you have to eat

One of the biggest mistakes I see people do (I am even guilty), when trying to lose weight, is start working out and make a huge cut in calories. This is where everyone goes wrong. I went snowboarding this past weekend and I weighed myself before and after the weekend.

I never weigh myself anymore because I am trying to put on muscle now and not lose weight, so I will gain weight. We are so programmed to care what our numbers are. What we weigh, what our BMI is or what our fat percentage is. So when we see that number go up, it freaks us out, even though we are looking better. So i just stopped getting on the scale and judge what I see in the mirror. Obviously, I am still learning how to not look for my imperfections and look for my progress.

Anyways, I weighed myself for this blog, knowing I wanted to write on this topic. I gained 3 lbs over the weekend. Automatically you would assume that I over indulged on food. When I didn't, I did not eat enough. I did not have any cheat meals and did not drink any alcohol this trip. I packed protein bars, almonds, protein powders, fruits, veggies, baggies of chicken and a container of oatmeal. But how much can I pack in my gear for while snowboarding? Usually we stop at subway on our way up to have them later for lunch but this time we were so eager to get up we didn't. I thought they would have something on the slopes, but of course all they had was pizza!! I was not about to ruin my weekend with that. So after talking to a couple people there, they finally gave my meatballs, THREE of them!!! With the amount of calories I was burning, I needed like 7 haha. Thats where it all went wrong.

I tried to make up for it at dinner, getting an egg white omelette packed with meat, and then I ate everyone else's meat they were not eating (ya people were looking at me like I was crazy). It still was not enough. Not eating enough plus not enough water, helped me put on those 3 lbs.

When you do not eat enough for your body to function, your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to all the fat. You need to eat enough for your body to now think this. When working out, you need to up your calories, so you are able to still function. You will notice a difference in weight loss, exercise  performance and energy. EAT THE FOOD!!! Eat clean and train hard.

So many opinions...

Everyone seems to have their own thoughts on health and nutrition. Everyone thinks their idea on what you should eat, is the best way to eat. Carbs, no carbs, paleo, vegan, Adkins... And the list goes on and on and on. Everyone including myself is confused about what is healthy or will help you lose weight. Even last week, I asked a couple fitness models, what they change in their eating habits when they are "bulking" (or trying to add muscle) and of course I got several different answers. So what is the best "diet" follow? NONE OF THEM. They are all dumb. Yupppp. Any diet that restricts you from eating something, is not good. Unless you go to a nutritionist and get blood work or take an allergy test and find out what is not good for YOUR body. Other then that you should not restrict anything. Everything has nutrients that your body need. You will hear people say, "don't eat fruit because of the sugar" or another one that i love, "don't eat carbs". These are two very common restrictions in diets and it is unfortunate because they are both needed. Obviously, don't eat just fruits, or don't eat just carbs. Everything needs to be done in moderation.  Fiddle around with the amounts. I try to avoid carbs and sugars before bed, but I do not avoid them all together. I love my fruits so good luck on getting me to cut those out. With carbs, if I do not eat enough, I get very sluggish and tired. Carbs give you energy, so you need them. I choose to cut out dairy for my skin. When I eat dairy, I break out, so I switched to almond milk. I also stay away from wheat and gluten because it makes me sick. When I eat wheat or gluten, my stomach get bloated, I physically look like I am pregnant. It gets super hard and it hurts.  If you think something is making you sick, cut it out for a couple weeks, and see how you feel. If you feel better, then you know that was not right for your body. Learn to listen to your body. Everyone is different, so I don't believe everyone should follow the same eating habits. Those diets are there to make money, not to make you healthy. Research things and come to your own conclusion. I have taken class after class and have read studies after studies to come up with my thoughts of nurtrion. I regulate my eating by listening to my body. The only thing I do limit is when I eat certain things. But everyone is different. I see some fitness people eat simple carbs before bed, but I avoid it. You will hardly find someone that doesn't have a different opinion about nutrition then the other person. Research and form your own, based on your body. Anyways, its raining and is cold, so I made myself a healthier version of hot chocolate. Mmmmm

1. Almond milk heated up
2. Tablespoon of non sweetened cocoa
3. Half a scoop of my chocolate protein powder
3. Packet of stevia

I am back :)

Wow, It has been so long since I have been on here. Life got super crazy with work, school ending and grandpa being in the hospital, but my life seems to be back on track :0 yay. I think I am going to get all A's and one B. That B will be like an 88% which upsets me even more that I could not get all A's. But considering the fact that I work close to full time and trying to plan a wedding and train, it is not too shabby. I CAN do it all haha. Now it is time to organize my house and spend time with my hubby-to-be. Our relationship was tested big time this semester due to the amount of time we did not spend together. Sure we saw each other but due to school and work we hardly spent time together, and by the end I was really feeling it, so I am glad we will be us again :) I updated a lot of the pages, including Products I love, workouts and dessert recipes. Check it out :) I know it is the holiday season, but keep eating clean and make time for your workouts. If you slip up, just get back on track. We are human and wont be perfect. Glad to be back :)