Fancy Fruits and Veggies

Well, I finished the other two weeks of the 21 Day Fix. But, I didn't really finish it-I got sick the last week so my eating plan was a little wonky, and then I am doing a mini-triathlon and a 5k so I took a few days to do some cross-training (cycling and swimming) instead of the Fix workout.  I love the 21 Day Fix nutrition program-it's just good, balanced portion control! It did have me eating a lot more veggies than I usually do though. I've noticed as I've started paying attention to my food that my veggie eating comes in waves-I'll go several days or weeks doing great and eating lots of veggies and then I kind of burn out and don't eat any for awhile. Eventually, I get back in the mood for my veggies and I start eating them again! Well, I FINALLY figured out that what's happening is I'm getting FOOD BOREDOM! I'm tired of eating the same veggies everyday, all day. Another thing I've learned about myself is that I don't use digital information/organization very well-I LOVE PAPER! So, I'm taking action! I went to Pinterest and found a bunch of yummy, EASY, veggie/fruit/salad recipes and printed them out! I wanted to share this site I found-I want to make all these salads because they sound so yummy!  http://www.thegardengrazer.com/2014/04/12-must-try-fresh-colorful-salads.html  I hope you try some of these recipes!

On "Making Time"

I saw this picture on Pinterest the other day:

It got me thinking. It got me thinking about how I used to feel when people would say this, how I feel now, and how I've made time for my health and fitness.  First, this quote is such a cliché. When I used to hear it I'd just roll my eyes, "Yes, I know. MAKE time." But I didn't think anyone really understood and I didn't think I really had time. There were things I needed to get done. But over the past couple years I've come to learn that there's ALWAYS things that need to get done. One of my favorite thoughts is something to this effect: If you put God first in your life, all other things will fall into place or drop out of your life". Now, that's not about fitness but it's about time management. It's so easy these days to fill my day with useless, nonproductive things-like Pinterest :). My mother-in-law, who is a devout exerciser, said at some point in her life she just decided that she'd move her body for 20 minutes everyday NO MATTER WHAT. And she did! Even on Christmas morning she'd go for a run before present time which my husband and his siblings still talk about! Now I don't think I'll ever do that. But over time, I've tried to make better use of my time. And, as I grew in my role as a mother, I realized I had to make time for myself eventually or I'd get swallowed up in other things. Probably one of the biggest things that has allowed me to find time in my life for fitness that is mostly out of my control is having my children get a little older. When I have a new baby, first of all, I use all my spare time to sleep, and second of all, babies just aren't too keen on sitting while you workout! So when my youngest was about 2 is when I tried my first Beachbody workout. I did T25 because it's 25 minutes and surely I could find 25 minutes. I committed to one month of the program and you know what? I did it! I decided on my priorities and they were as follows: God/my faith, family responsibilities, my health/fitness. I decided if I accomplished what I needed to in those three areas everyday then I'd count the day as a success! Sometimes in that month of T25 my workouts were in the evening, sometimes I spent hours in my workout clothes waiting for a window, sometimes I had to pause it to help my kids but it still happened. After that month I realized that the dumb cliché that I'd rolled my eyes to all the time about 'making time' was true! It really is all within my power to make time for my workout! I could choose to get it done or not-and I could sacrifice to make it happen or I could make excuses about why it didn't happen. My coach always says "crush those excuses" and so I started doing that! I was tired of making excuses for myself on why I couldn't get fit. This morning, I dropped my older two kids at school and planned to go for a bike ride with my youngest in the trailer. As I got changed into my workout clothes the pile of unfolded clean laundry was calling to me from the top of my dresser. Dishes were beckoning to be done. Clutter needed to be straightened. And you know what? I overlooked it and made my fitness, my well-being, myself a priority in my life and went for the bike ride. It was beautiful! And guess what? I still have time for housework tonight (unfortunately? lol). I said to myself "When was the last time I thought-gee, I have forgotten to make time for dishes/laundry for 3 weeks and now I'm so behind!" That just doesn't happen. Those things always need to get done and always will get done. But when was the last time we said to ourselves "Gee-I have forgotten to make time for my workout for the last 3 weeks!" That DOES happen? But, unlike the chores, you cannot recover 3 weeks of missed workouts in one marathon exercise session. Our bodies are either getting stronger or weaker-they are not static. So after 3 weeks, your body will be weaker than it was before. I know it's hard to let other things go in place of time for your workout. I know it's hard to overlook other responsibilities that are calling to you. I know it's hard to sacrifice a little sleep if the morning is the only time you'll have that day to workout. But JUST TRY IT. JUST TRY IT. See if your life doesn't rebalance itself after a few weeks. It's weird at first but then you find a new rhythm that includes caring for yourself and the beautiful body that has been given to you. I believe my body is a temple like God says and I have not always given it the care it deserves but I changed that. YOU should be a priority in your life. So don't roll your eyes anymore, make the time!

21 Day Fix Week 1

I finished my first real week of the 21 Day Fix program! I say real because I got the program a month ago, did about 5 days, fell off the wagon and did not get back on for a few weeks :). It was a great week-I lost 2.2 lbs and my stomach is noticeably flatter! I'm so grateful for this program because exercising is not my biggest struggle. I will say that I've fallen in love with Beachbody workouts because they are so efficient! I get a great full body workout done-better than I'd do at the gym-and in such a short amount of time. However, the nutrition guide from the 21 Day Fix has been such a blessing to me. Because I struggle in general with food, I have a really hard time sticking to a strict menu plan/diet guide. Once I start limiting and eliminating foods it pushes me off the deep end. The deprivation I feel I can't overcome with willpower and it comes back and bites me in the form of a binge usually (I use the term binge loosely signifying a time of overeating where I felt kind of out of control). I LOVE the 21 Day Fix food containers because I can eat anything I want (that's good food :) ). Even, dare I say the word, carbs! I hate the food trends of the day and I hate how foods and even whole food groups have been label "bad". I don't buy it and science doesn't really either so I'm grateful for a program that allows for all types of foods. Our bodies use all types of foods! The flexibility in the eating is great-I feel like there's room for me to have what I want when I want it and not feel limited or deprived. The workouts are less intense than T25 which is what I was doing before and I miss Shaun T a little bit but I've gotten used to Autumn and grown to love her style too! And it's not like hers aren't intense..I still modify almost everything! lol That's alright-this is the beginning of my story :) Here's to week two!

My Story Right Now

Well, here goes. This blog has many purposes: 1-to provide me an outlet to organize and express my thoughts surrounding my health and fitness life, and 2-to share my story and journey to help others on their own journey!  It's been about two years since I hooked up with my Beachbody coach, Shannon Golloday. I'll back track even a little more than that. I've always been fit, loved sports in high school and was able to play volleyball, basketball and softball. I ran track in middle school as a sprinter and jumper. It was so much fun. I never worried about what I ate. I did, however, struggle with an eating disorder for a little while as a teenager and I've always struggled with my self image. I have always had a serious sweet tooth/sugar addiction/whatever you want to call it. Even as a young girl I always wanted more cookies than I got, I always wanted to sneak a little extra dessert. So, fast forward to freshman year at college and I ended up exercising my new freedom by eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted which included keeping a can of vanilla frosting in my desk drawer and eating it by the spoonful! Needless to say, I saw the freshman 15 come on! But it wasn't too bad. I got married at age 19 and remember slowly gaining a few pounds through our (short) engagement but I was still happy with my size. Fast forward again, I've had three kids now. My youngest just turned 3 in January. I put on quite a bit of weight with each pregnancy and it bummed me out, especially when people were so surprised how big I was considering I was tall. I'd always pictured myself as being that tall, slender, barely-showing-is-she-really-pregnant kind of girl but I was not! After my second kid I managed to lose most of the weight and got to a fairly comfortable spot with little effort. After my third though, I didn't bounce back. Three kids was hard. Doesn't help that our oldest had some unique struggles that made things more demanding and exhausting for me and we were homeschooling so they were all home all the time. I started eating junk food-sweets-all the time. It was my reward for a good day, my outlet for a stressful day, my comfort when stressed, my everything basically. I started eating at night when my kids would keep me up. I ate during the day because I was just so tired. Food became basically my coping mechanism for anything and everything. That coupled with the total sleep exhaustion that had built up over the years of babies and I finally felt like I might have a mental breakdown when my youngest was about 2ish. I was able to change a few things in life and it was also then that I found Shannon through facebook. We had a mutual friend and she was starting some kind of challenge and I needed help. I needed some outside help to lose what had started as 'baby weight' and had turned into just regular fatness! It's like my health just slowly slipped away. I didn't notice because I was learning how to be a wife and mom and an adult and then it hit me that I was now one of those grown-ups that struggled with their weight! I remember distinctly the first time I talked with her. I felt drawn to her because her story was much like mine: pregnancy weight, little kids, needing to get back in control. And she had done it! Well, we talked on the phone one night and as she questioned me about my health and fitness and life I think I actually cried because of the stress I carried and the lack of hope I had of ever getting my thin, healthy, athletic, positive self back! She was so supportive. Long story short, I tried a few months of shakeology and it was good but I didn't love it and wasn't consistent. I also got T25 and I loved it! It is 25 HARD minutes and I felt like a wimp because I could barely keep up with the modifier but after 4 weeks I had a noticeable improvement in my fitness. I lost about 15 lbs but then gained it back because my nutrition hadn't really changed. Well, I stepped away from Beachbody. I tried WeightWatchers (twice) but never kept up with my points, I read all about nutrition and knew what I needed but I couldn't do it-I couldn't stay away from sugar. And the harder I tried, the worse it got. I'd tell myself "NO sugar" and I'd make it a couple days and then I'd crash in a binge. The binges became secret and I hid them from my kids and husband because I was too embarrassed to admit that I was failing. My self worth plummeted because each time I set a health goal and failed I beat myself up over it, about how weak I was etc... I then tried Medifast's Take Shape For Life program. I personally think it is a good program-lots of good features. I had a couple people I know go through it with success and it was fast results which I thought I could do. But again, the food restrictions killed me and I'd binge every few days or weeks. I even did a triathlon last year and it was one of the most amazing things ever and I LOVED it and it motivated me enough to exercise consistently and STILL I remember finishing at the gym and stopping at a cupcake shop on the way home! I had separated exercise and nutrition-I'd separated working out to help my body vs to lose weight. I LOVE exercising-it feels great, I love getting stronger and racing and whatnot but when you're overweight it's HARD. I needed to find a way to get my nutrition under control so I could reach my fitness goals! Well, now here we are in March 2015. Through all of this up and down I'd always seen Shannon's facebook posts-she was so positive but real, motivating and supportive, and quietly consistent. If I reached out with a question she'd respond, but she didn't push. I felt like I should reconnect again. I even expressed curiosity in how being a Beachbody coach worked and she asked me what was holding me back. There were a couple reasons but a big one was that I wasn't sold on shakeology. I didn't love it. I decided to order it one more time. This time I tried the chocolate shakeology flavor. I had started with vanilla because I'm not a huge chocolate fan (gasp!) but never loved it. Well, I got my chocolate in the end of January and it has CHANGED MY LIFE. It was so good-it was something I could actually see myself drinking daily! So I did. I drank it every day. And guess what?! In the last month, I have seen, for the FIRST TIME, my cravings for sugar decrease now to the point where some of the sweets I used to love don't even really sound that good. My tastes have changed. It has helped my energy-I don't know how but I feel better after a month on it than I did before! It has helped me feel in control of my nutrition. Now I was sold on it. I really still don't comprehend how it has helped me because it's a hard thing to measure but I love it. It's the only variable in the last couple months that has changed in my life and so I attribute all the goodness I've had to it :). In the first couple weeks I didn't even change my eating that much-still had desserts every day or so. But slowly, I was able to not do that. Now it's not easy. I've learned that this journey is never easy. And it takes a lot of mental work. But it can be done. I'm still doing it. The next thing that's helped me/is helping me is the 21 day fix. All the Beachbody workouts come with nutrition guides but as evidenced from my past, I don't stick to strict eating plans very well. And they end up pushing me in the opposite direction toward bad habits. But, the 21 day fix program is NOT a nutrition program or guide or whatever you want to say. I like to call it a healthy eating portion control system :). Because all it does it take the food groups and teach you how much and which groups to eat. I already knew (I'm guessing we all know) the major food groups and where most foods fall in them, but this program is helping me get the right amounts of each group. AND, it's so flexible-I can really eat most of the foods I like whenever I want during the day. It's great. I don't feel restricted at all. So, I think that's where I'm at now. I signed up as a coach because it gives me more accountability but more than that, I want others  (I want YOU) to see this journey I'm going through. Because I AM going to make it to my health and fitness goals and I want you to watch the whole way. Because if I can do it, SO CAN YOU. And I know that sounds cliché but it's true. I've had all the mental fights with myself, I've had obstacles, and while our obstacles won't be the same we can share the fact that we all struggle with things that are hard for us personally and we can overcome together! My favorite part about Beachbody is how I've been connected to incredibly positive people! My coach and all the others I'm connected to are positive and uplifting, and Beachbody themselves encourage personal development. Health and fitness is not just a physical journey-it's mental, emotional, spiritual, full-being journey! Alright, that's my back story in a nut shell :) I could write more, and I will, but it will come in pieces. I hope you will read my story and appreciate the honesty that I have. The honesty makes me feel a little vulnerable but I'm hoping if I'm honest then others can see the real journey. That's one thing I always thought as I saw people be healthy and fit was that they made it look easy, or simple, or fun all the time. And I was confused because in my head it wasn't easy or simple or fun all the time! But I've learned that for most people it's none of those things (not at first) but no one shares the hard, ugly stuff. So I will. I'll share it all! I hope it helps you on your journey too! And I cannot wait to make more progress and get to share that too!

Welcome!

Welcome to my journey! I am creating this blog to help me record and share my health and fitness journey. I'm so excited to be making this journey-it's long overdue. I will share my story soon to get started but for now I'll just say that I'm so grateful I found Beachbody and my coach, Shannon Golladay. What started as a weight loss journey is turning into a life changing event, full of positivity, energy, and excitement! Here's to feeling powerful!