Love your body

O.K.  I did not fall off the planet.  As I look back on the last three months, I realize there is no way I can recap everything!  Here is a quick summary since December 18.  I had a birthday!!  I love birthdays and I hope to always be happy and not care about my age with each passing year.  Live it up!  Here we are on my birthday run to Sunshine Cafe.January was long, cold, and snowy.  My sweet sister came out to stay with me for 2 1/2 weeks with her 3 kids while she had a surgery.  I was Doctor Holly for awhile.  Her 7 year old was recently diagnosed with diabetes and that made everything a little more complex, but I loved having her visit.  She lives far away in Connecticut!  I’ve skied, but not nearly enough.  Here are a few pics. from a trip with my brother and another with friends!  Love to ski (:

Then, my 10 year old daughter has been in several too many cheer competitions.  One of them taking us to the beautiful city of Portland!  We had such a great time.  A few of my friends came with their daughters too.

We saw many sights including Pittock mansion, Old Town, Portland LDS temple, and my favorite, Multinomah falls!  We ate at wonderful local restaurants trying everything.  I should have taken pictures of the food!  We had gourmet salads, sushi, curry, thai, mexican, italian, and of course we had to try the famous Voodoo doughnuts and the best ice cream store in the world, Salt and Straw.

We even made time to teach a HIGH class and go on a dreamy, rainy run!  It was tough to go home! 

Right now, I’m keeping busy with kids plays and activities.  Hopefully I’ll be more consistent on posting from here on out!  Spring is in sight and has given me new energy.  My healthy topic for the day is this:

A friend of mine sent this to me and said it reminded her of me.  I’m so glad!  This is why I work out.  Of course I have my own body image issues, I think everyone does, but focusing on the positive is always my motto.

Quick story!  My heart just broke in a million pieces this weekend.  I came home Saturday night and went to talk to my 15 year old daughter in her room.  I could tell something was wrong.  This week we decided to start a healthy challenge together with some of our friends.  We made many wonderful goals and rules to follow.  Some of them were exercise 30 minutes every day, no eating after 8 p.m., 3-5 fruits and veggies a day, and no junk food such as cookies, candy, chips, etc…Well, when I asked my daughter what was wrong, her eyes filled up with tears and she said, “I just want to eat what I want, when I want, and not worry about it.”  Oh my complete sadness to hear her say these words!  Our precious daughters are in a world of high body image ideals and expectations.  Media and people all around them tell them they need to look a certain way and what they should be doing to look prettier, be skinnier, and have everyone like you.  How I hope and pray she continues to grow up with confidence and happiness when it comes to her appearance.  We had a good talk and both cried and I told her to stop the challenge right then and there and that we would modify it to fit her needs.  I’ve been doing things like this for years and I didn’t realize that it would be too much for her to take all at once.  Remember as you embark on your own fitness journeys to make a plan just for you and only you and to set realistic goals.  Don’t compare yourself to anyone else.  If and when you mess up, do not beat yourself up about it.  Start fresh the next day and keep going.  I’m a pro at starting and restarting (:  If you can find one small thing to improve on each day then you’ve made your goal.  Love your body.  Eat.  Focus on the positive.  Never give up.  Smile.  You are unique, beautiful, and perfectly perfect just the way you are!     

Fashion FIRST day of Spring!!

Happy First Day Of Spring!!!

I have a new tradition for the 1st day of Spring!  I got a really ugly  beautiful white elephant gift this year that is a ceramic plate with flowers and butterflies on it.  I loved it and decided I’d make lemon bars on the first day of Spring and put them on my plate!  I’ll take a picture for sure.  It’s the little things, right? (: Last post I was “post play” and I look at that last picture of me and I look very tired!  I’m slowly feeling like my normal self.  Being in charge of the play was similar to running a marathon I decided, only harder.  It took everything out of me!  I’m glad it’s over and I don’t think I’ll do it again, but I’d like to…  I told my husband that if I didn’t do a play I should do a fitness competition instead!  Another crazy thing I’ve always wanted to do.  I found a great blog called honeywerehealthy.blogspot.  She’s close to my age and just did a competition.  She has great information on everything I’d need to know.  We’ll see (:  My husband gave me a compliment yesterday and said you always do well at whatever you do.  I tried to tell him that doesn’t everyone do that?  And he said no.  A lot of people live by the NEVER TRY NEVER FAIL motto.  That’s from the movie ROBOTS.  Wise words to live by!  So…if I DID do a fitness competition, I wouldn’t fail, right? O.K.  last post I said I was doing a 4 day FAST!!  I did it.  It may sound crazy, but I felt so out of whack that it made me feel better, eventually.  The 1st day was the hardest because you know you still have 3 days left.  I felt a little light headed on day 2 (imagine that?), but day 3 and 4 were fine with fruit, veggies, and protein.  It gave me motivation to keep up the healthy eating.  I feel much better.  Weekends are the hardest!  So, my advice with this FIRST day of Spring is to sit down and make NEW goals for yourself.  Goals that are SMART! Think about those 5 things as you set your goal and of course write down a REWARD.  That’s the BEST part!  And if you mess up, reroute yourself and try again.  I failed a little bit in February and March with my ONE treat day a week goal.  Oh well.  Starting now I’m back on!  Only candy at movies too!  During play week I was eating anything and everything.  Here’s a new favorite SONG that is perfect for your SPRING running.  Watch the video.  The guy is even running on a treadmill.  I love it!  I’ll end with two photos as well.  These pictures were taken within 20 minutes of each other.  Right after my workout and then after a quick shower and change!  Not much goin’ on with the hair.  (:  Have a wonderful weekend!  Our family is getting ready to go out of town and I couldn’t be more excited!!  Relaxation, Happiness, Fun.  I do like to work too!  That’s for Rob (:  P.S.  I cleaned the mirror after the 1st photo! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozsmSlvGHv4

10 days and something new

Hello!!  It’s super late.  I’m up finishing laundry and making lists (: I should be sleeping!  November!!  Here already and one of my favorites!  Halloween about did me in.  I’m soooooo glad it’s over.  It gets a little ridiculous at some point.  Thanksgiving has always been my FAV!!!  Sweet, simple, yummy, and happy!  I have several goals and tasks on my plate.  Every day is numbered this month.  I have an order of TO DO’s.  Here’s my LIFE list for November, not just fitness!  Writing this down helps me remember.  Finish and turn in Reflections, prepare a lesson, prepare a talk, finish planning an activity for next week, church volleyball, memorize The Living Christ, water and plant bulbs, organize play committees, hold play meeting, meet with principal, create flyer and send, start and finish Christmas shopping, plan a winter getaway, get ready for ski season, buy Piano Guys tix, signups for Junior Jazz, tumbling class, personal train…I’m going to end there.  I will share a sweet pic. from Halloween.  We visited my in-laws before the Trick or Treating!  The weather was fantastic!  I love my beautiful children.  My husband was playing the part of his costume…yard guy and MIA (:

Now that that’s out of the way, here are my fitness goals.  I have a  10 day weight goal I’m working on.  It’s also a measurement goal.  I have 4 lbs. to go.  I’m pretty good at playing the weight loss game and I know I’ll do it.  November 15th is my weigh in day!  This will be fun!  I’m loving my weights and everything else.  I love to plug my music in and lift.  I used to very much dislike lifting weights, but once you start seeing results, it becomes a little addicting.  I’m following Jamie Eason’s Phase 3 workouts and diet.  LOVE IT!  All my protein powders are running low, so I thought I’d try something new.  I read about a new stack endorsed by Jamie Eason and I’m going to give it a try!  I’ll have to post a review.  It’s protein powder, multi vitamins, krill oil, and anti-bloat capsules.  I found the best price through bodybuilding.com.

I’ll end with a few FAVORITES as of late!!!  An outfit, a quote, and a song.  Here’s a new combo from my wardrobe.  The sweater was a gift from my very stylish friend and the sweet tiny polkadot red jeans were purchased at a boutique in St. George.  My husband found the cute red booties one day at the Sundance Outlet!

 

Next, my quote of the day was shared by a fitness Instagrammer I follow.  I read it a couple times and thought, I love that and I love birds!

Lastly and most favorite, is a song by David Archuleta called GLORIOUS!  It was written for an incredible movie called Meet The Mormons.  I love the piano and his voice.  I could listen to it over and over.  Have a beautiful and happy FALL day!  Count your blessings.

Update on goals. Stick with it!

Today is Saturday!!  My kids had school off Thursday and Friday for Fall Break and I just got back from St. George.  I’m a little confused as to what day it is!!  I can’t go this long between posts!  Next week I’ll be more organized!  October is a blip on the radar.  It is flying!  I’m sticking to my goals and eating well.  My new commitment is to weigh and measure myself every Monday.  Doing this keeps me in check and from straying too far from my fitness goals. I loved my workouts while I was out of town.

DAY 1 we ran one mile on the treadmill at an 8 minute pace, worked chest and abs, and then ran intervals of 20 on and 10 off with the treadmill set between a 9-10.

DAY 2 was a FUN 11 mile run.  It turned into a tour of the city.  I loved running through streets and neighborhoods I’m not familiar with and not really knowing how long our run would be.  It felt great!!

DAY 3 we worked shoulders, back, and a cardio circuit!!  Try this one at home!!  3 stations: burpees, kettlebell swings, and situps.  The burpee station was the timer.  25 burpees.  That was about 1:45-2:00 minutes.  When the burpee person finished we switched stations.  4 rounds!  Loved it!  Easy way to whip out 100 burpees.

Food has been good!  I recommitted myself for the rest of the month with only 2 days off.  One was on the trip.  Waffles, chocolate carmel bars, ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies.  Lovely.  My stomach didn’t like that much, but I went right back to normal the next day and I feel fine!  So far my mini goals work for me!  I’ll tell you what my prize is at the end when I accomplish my goal! Next, I found my dream body!  I’m sure most people think this is too muscley.  Dang!  I love working for something like this and I love lifting.  One day (:  Work Hard.  That’s all that matters!

 Here are a few photos from the trip too!  Back to reality! Such a fun trip!  I love St. George always.  We saw a great play at Tuachan, hiked, visited the temple, ran, lifted, played games, laughed, and much more.  Getting away is my medicine along with exercising.  Oh, one more pic!  This was last Sunday.  I decorated my front porch and we were on our way to church.  I love my cute boy in the background the most! I love October!  I’ll post more next week!  Next Saturday I’ll have another half to talk about too!  Always going.  Happy Harvest season!  Make it work.  Fit it in.  Be happy.

Workouts and Sweat

Hello!!  Today is mostly workout stuff!!  I’ve been a little forgetful this week!  Monday was my friends 40th birthday that I have been excited about forever!!  I made her a photo book and we surprised her with a friend lunch and lots of love letters.  It was perfect and she loved it.  I was so happy!  Because of all that, I forgot my daughter’s sewing class and volunteering with my kindergartner.  I also double booked a field trip on top of a literature group.  Geez!!  Oh well!  Here are a few shots!  They are a little grainy!

Yes, my life is super fun!  Alrighty!!  I talk on my blog and instagram about all the healthy meals and snacks I eat.  I have to admit, I’m not 100% healthy, not even close.  We went out of town over the weekend and made lots of yummy meals and treats.  Lots of birthday parties.  I had to make sugar cookies…and the list continues.  I did however keep my workouts up and the next 3 days I am pre race eating!  Can’t wait for my 1/2 marathon this weekend!

I’ll share the workout we did at the church yesterday!!  It was hard.  I love to sweat and almost always drip buckets twice a day with a run or a class.  We did each grouping 3 times before moving to the next one.  Notice this first one is a little crazy with burpees AND pushups.  I substituted biceps on a few rounds!

40 prisoner squats

20 burpees

40 pushups

20 burpees

40 sit ups

40 side to side lunges

20 jump squats

40 triceps

20 jump squats

40 side to side situps with cross punches

40 hip raises

20 split lunges

40 high sumos

20 split lunges

40 zombie situps

I’ve been doing an ab routine that I read in Oxygen magazine this month.  I’ve already done it twice this week!  My daughter took a few pictures of some of the exercises.  Once again, only a couple turned out o.k.  Look it up!  I did 3 sets of 15 reps.

swiss ball oblique crunch

medicine ball v-up 

Well!!  I must be off.  FOOD talk will be Monday with the start of serious weights and strict eating.  Imagine!!  Love this time of year!  Happy sunny FALL day!!  Be back POST 1/2!!  Enjoy!!  (:

Preview to 3 month GET BUFF program

Hi!  Today I’ve been thinking about my 3 month program that I will be starting in August.  I’m always trying to improve my personal training business and I’ve decided to give everyone the 3 month schedule I’ll be following.  Here are a few thoughts about what will be included in my program:

• Exercise 6 days a week.  Weights everyday, running 3-4 days a week, and a few extra classes I love.
• No white flour or white sugar
• 1 T flaxseed everyday
• 3-4 days a week vegan
• 25 grams of fiber every day
• Increase in protein
• 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day
• No eating after 8:00 p.m.
• 70-90 ounces of water every day
• Huge salad every day

I’m excited!  August, September, and October will be my months.  I’ve been eating really well for 3 weeks now.  My cravings are gone.  Lately, my cute oldest son has been wanting to exercise A LOT!  He’s going to the gym every day and asking me for workouts.  Today he even went through a workout with me and my friends and one of his friends!  WOW!  He took a few snaps of our little posse!  We pretty much take over the gym and talk too much and too loud!  Here is the workout we did today:

He told me the other day how he likes seeing results (duh?! 16 year old boy!) and how much he loves muscles!  Ha Ha (:

We are loving summer!  I was outside last week planting a little garden.  I love to walk around the front and back yard at night and water all the flowers.  The summer night air is relaxing.  These little guys have already started blooming this week!

Well, my house is full of too many kids to count tonight.  My sister is in town and my brother is coming tomorrow!  I need to go clean the whole house…AGAIN!  This morning we had my family over for breakfast.  I love my kitchen so much and having people over to eat!!  One of my favorite things.  We have fun times ahead for the next week or so!

 I’m going to end with several GREAT sayings I like right now.  Be happy and work hard always…

3 days of healthy eating

Hello again!  Today I’m talking food.  This week I diligently kept a food dairy.  It keeps me in check.  Quote of the day that I’m always ranting about!

Here are a few sample days for me.  I didn’t really write portions.  Think medium to small and I always stop eating between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. and drink lots of water.

DAY 1

Breakfast-Tropical colada smoothie

Snack-1/2 apple

Lunch-1 egg/4 egg white omelet with veggies, laughing cow cheese, and ham, small salad.

Snack-6 almonds, quest bar

Dinner-Stirfry (brown rice, veggies, and chicken), 15 grapes, and a low carb ice cream bar.

DAY 2

Pre workout-1/2 protein bar and C4 drink

Post workout-muscle milk

Breakfast-tofu whole wheat pancakes with blueberries

Snacks and Lunch-Veggies and hummus, emerge drink, quest bar, 5 cashews, 4 apple slices with 1/2 T peanut butter, 5 bites of Will’s lasagna

Dinner-Party food (chicken salad with lettuce, coleslaw, fruit, chicken and veggie shish kabob.

DAY 3 

Pre workout-1/2 protein bar

Post workout-muscle milk

Breakfast-Spinach, peanut butter and banana protein smoothie

Lunch-1 1/2 wheat roll, veggies, lettuce, chicken, low carb ice cream

Snack-1/2 luna bar

Dinner-broccoli, 1/2 c cottage cheese, sweet potato, 1 wheat roll

Snack-apple

That was exciting I know!!  This will be short because I haven’t eaten much today and now I’m hungry!  My daughter put on a dance recital today for a class she teaches to 11 little girls.  We tried to make it really nice and professional.  She did a great job!  This has been a busy cooking and baking week for me.  Tonight and tomorrow we have family dinners and with the recital and various other activities, I tallied up making 4 desserts and 3 different kinds of salads, and a batch of homemade rolls.  Whew!  I can’t eat if all I do is cook!  I admit today I snitched and had one cookie and 1 peanut butter and chocolate rice krispie treat at the dance recital.  I’m counting that as lunch (:

Today while I was making a potato salad I thought of a picture I took when I was very young and newly married.  I was so proud of myself for making my first potato salad!  I still make this recipe that was passed down from my Grandma and it’s the only potato salad I’ll eat!  The best ever!  I’ll post the recipe on Monday even though it’s not super duper healthy.  At least it’s homemade!

And the fashion photo of the week was last Sunday with my cutie pie!

Skirt-J Crew

Top-Banana Republic

Shoes-Dillard’s

Gotta go!  Have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend!  So grateful!  Next on my list is preparing for Girl’s Camp.  Yippee!

Never never give up!

O.K.  Time to get serious here.  I have a few clients that are eating healthy all the time and exercising every day.  Why are they not losing weight?  Today one of them even said something like I’M READY TO GIVE UP!!  Ouch!  That hurt my ears! (:  I typed in NEVER GIVE UP on Pinterest.  My favorite sayings popped up!

There are multiple influences on losing weight.  What works for one does not always work for another.  Everyone has opposite views on weight loss.  It’s dizzying!  One thing for certain is losing weight is NOT EASY!  If it was, everyone would be doing it! 🙂

I’ve summarized one of my favorite fitness icons program for exercising and losing weight.  Jamie Eason Live Fit.  This is killer and it you follow it and I mean FOLLOW IT to a T, you will lose weight and gain energy!  I asked my girls what the hardest thing was about losing weight.  First answer: PATIENCE.  Second answer: FOOD.  I asked some others what their tips were for losing weight.  After the stress and flu, I got portion size and clean eating.  I can’t stress enough that DIET is everything in losing weight, second is WEIGHT TRAINING.  As you age, you lose muscle mass, stop burning as many calories, and put on weight.  Keep building your muscles and feeding them clean food and protein.

Alright, off my soap box.  Here are the workouts I’ll be doing for the next two weeks.  Jamie Eason Phase 2 weeks 1-2 .  Here is her nutrition plan.  Print it, stick it on the wall, buy everything you need and do it!!

We had a great workout today at the church!  Lots of sweating goin’ on.  I’ll post it on Wednesday!  Happy eating and exercising.  You can do it!  No matter what!

 

20 and a few favorites for the day!

20 miles Baby!  Well, as usual, time never stops.  My 20 miler came and went!!  The day before I was a little nervous.  I need to chill.  Everything was great!!  I ran with two awesome girls who will be with me in Boston.  It was a beautiful run!  Some of you won’t get this, but I want to write it down to remember the route.  We started at the top of 4th North and ran South until we hit a trail.  Then we kept going on the trail till it almost headed down to Salt Lake.  Turned around and ran the whole length back, till we hit another trail by the B.  We hopped on that one and ran through to the road.  Ran down 4th N. to Davis.  We were at 16 miles at that point.  We ran out 2 miles and back.  The run equaled 20.5 to be exact (:  My legs started feelin’ it when we hit Davis but I stayed with it and we made it.  Yay!!  Great feeling!  They want to run 20 next week.  I might do it in hopes that my body with be stronger and feel better prepared for the marathon.  With that, here is my FAVORITE quote of the day!!

We are getting ready to leave for a weekend getaway with friends.  A very much needed R & R for me!!  I’ll finish quickly with a few more FAVORITES for the day!!!  FAVORITE food suggestion:

This is a great reference.  I’m always telling my clients to eat more fiber and protein!  Next FAVORITE is a favorite workout I’ve been doing!  I found a ZUMBA girl I just love!!  Jessica Bass Byrge.  She’s on facebook and she’s making a Zumba video.  Here is my FAVORITE Zumba song right now!  Most early mornings after my clients leave I set up my ipad and go through a few songs with her all by myself in my gym!  Here I am after one early morning!

I could also add that these are my FAVORITE shoes too!!  Most comfortable ever!!  Here’s the video!

I’m off!  Stay Strong and Committed Always!!  SticK to it!

 

 

Winter activities

Life has been a little bit of a blur lately!  We’ve been enjoying the Christmas break!!  I have many thoughts running through my head of new goals, organization plans, and ways to be better and get more done.  I will share some of my thoughts and New Year’s Resolutions on December 31st!!

What I really want to talk about today are the highlights from our Christmas break trip!  The day after Christmas we left everything behind and headed up to Heber City to stay with friends for a few days!  The days were filled with fun and relaxation.  Thursday we went snowmobiling!  This was my first time snowmobiling.  We dressed warm since the temperatures were in the teens and twenties.  We had 6 snowmobiles between our families and followed the many trails across the mountains and valleys.  It was beautiful!!  It felt like trail running to me and I loved being outside.  Here I am with a couple kids after we took a break at the warming hut!  It was pretty cold!

Day 2 was not my favorite activity!  We went sledding on the lazy man sledding hill!  It was a hill that had a cable that pulled you up on your tubes and then you picked between 5 or 6 hills to go down.  O.K….let’s just say, I am not a lover of speed!!  I went down the first time holding onto my smallest son in his tube and about had a heart attack.  I remained calm and smiled as I went down only a couple more times.  Each time I went down I tried to feel better about the situation!  I did NOT like spinning out of control down an icy hill at speeds that felt like I would never stop.  That’s enough I’ll say about that.  Most people looked like they were lovin’ it!

Yay sledding!

We always eat well when we get together too.  It’s a tradition to eat at the local train restaurant.  It’s a fancy burger joint that has a train running around a track over head.  Yummy food and always a favorite for everyone in the whole city too!  On another night, we had fondue for dinner!  First we dipped bread, celery, shrimp, chicken, and apples in a cheesy sauce and second we had a toblerone chocolate fondue where we dipped rice krispie treats, cream puffs, pretzels, marshmellows, strawberries, and pretty much everything in it.  Soooo good!!

Everything is good dipped in cheese or chocolate!

The last day was a spur of the moment decision to go cross country skiing.  This one was my favorite by far!!  I’ve always wanted to try cross country skiing.  I know how to downhill ski and have been many times, but I’ve never loved it.  I’m thinking that has something to do with the speed thing!  Cross country skiing is totally different in a completely different environment too.  Once again, I felt like we were hiking in the mountains only it was more like skating.  I loved the exercise part of it too.  It works every muscle group in your body!  So much fun!!

What a great trip!  It’s good to be back.  I’m looking forward to getting my house back in order and sorting out my new year plans.  On Christmas day we saw the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  It was an interesting movie and had some really good meaning.  Here is a quote I liked.  This is LIFE magazine’s motto!  Be happy!  Work Hard…