Back on Track

Hello!  I’m back!  Here I am on Day 1 of my Back on Track plan!  Not that exciting and kinda a bad pic, but at least it’s recent since it was taken 5 minutes ago (: I’ll be better at posting more of my favorite workout clothes and fashion stuff in the near future.

So far this summer has been a whirlwind.  The last 3 weeks I’ve been on vacation and at girl’s camp.  My exercise routine hasn’t been happening for about a month.  I’m not too worked up over it.  It’s o.k. to take a break from life for awhile.  Sometimes it’s just the motivation you need to get back on track.  So, when I received an email that Jamie Eason was doing another DietBet challenge, I jumped all over it.

It starts today and goes for 4 weeks.  All you do is pay $30.  Then you have 4 weeks to lose 4% of your body weight.  For me, that is 5.5 lbs.  If you achieve this, you get your money back AND then some.  The grand pot is divided up among the participants.  Last time I did it, I got $50 back.  So, it’s not a money issue but more of a commitment issue.  Jamie’s challenges are even better than anyones because she sends out a 4 week workout and meal plan!  It’s amazing.  I’m excited to get started.  Check it out and JOIN me!!!  Click HERE to go to the challenge!

She also sent an email about how many calories you should be eating to reach your goal.  To do this, multiply your goal weight by 10 to get your resting caloric expenditure (RCE).  This is the number you need if you don’t move at all.  For someone looking to lose weight you would typically add anywhere from 300-400 calories.  So, my goal weight is 130.  I multiply that by 10 and get 1300.  I’m going to add 300 to that and so my daily caloric intake should be 1600.  I’m pretty active and it said you could even add up to 600 calories if you’re extremely active and looking to build muscle.  I want to build muscle, but I need to lose a little too so I’m going to keep my calories at 1600.  I’ll be pluggin everything into MyFitnessPal to help me out with that!

Sorry I’ve been pretty flakey lately with my posts!  I’m here to say that I WILL be posting more often!  I’ll be giving updates on the challenge and sharing parts of the workouts and meal plans.  I’m also ready to train for another 1/2 marathon in September.  I’m putting together a 8 week training plan that I’ll share SOON!!  Running has been put on the back burner in my life right now.  I still really enjoy it, but I’ve grown to love weightlifting more.  My body likes it better too.

Today I’m going to get organized with everything!  Check back in a few days and I’ll give you more details of what I’m eating and working out.  I’m so excited to get back on track and lean up my muscles.  Endorphins are my favorite and I need them in my life (:  I’ll end with a few of my favorite pictures from the last two months (:  Alaska was one of the places we visited.  These pictures do not do it justice.  I really need a real camera!!  Everyone should see Alaska.  It’s the most beautiful place I’ve seen.  I loved it!

 

Lower body love

Hey!!  We just got back from a long Spring Break!  I always love the time off from school and having the kids home, but I love schedules and order too.  We went to St George.  It was colder than normal and very crowded (: We still got in some beautiful hikes, a little time by the pool, a few great workouts, and we ate at an amazing new restaurant!

The restaurant we went to was called Viva Chicken.  Their specialty is Peruvian rotisserie chicken.  Best chicken ever!  I got a salad with kale, romaine, quinoa, mango, edamame…etc.  I need this place by me!!

Best salad ever!

At my gym in SG

Next up!  Lower body workout coming your way!  I love working legs and butt.  It’s harder than anything, but if you want to see results you MUST train lower body.  You will burn more calories, up your metabolism, and strengthen your knees and core!  Win, win, win!  I combined two workouts I found.  Over the next few days ever angle of my legs and butt were sore!  I’ll be doing this again this week!!  Here ya go!  I added a few pictures to help (:

Lower body barbell circuit #1  I’m using dumbbells in the pictures since I was at home.  At the gym I use a 50 lb. bar.

1-Sumo Deadlift

2-Back Squat

3-Curtsy Squat

Complete each exercise for 5 reps (each side).  Set a timer for 8 minutes and see how many times you can go through it.  Do this for 3 rounds.

Lower body circuit #2

SUPERSET: 5 SETS (Yes, 5!!)  I use a 40 lb. bar.

Dumbbell or barbell step ups-10 each leg

3 Jump Squats and 3 Push ups

One leg dumbell or barbell squat-10 each leg

P.S.  I added an ABS exercise at the end of each round in both circuits.  I did in and outs on the bench and bicycles.  Killer!  Make sure you stretch after!

O.K. That’s all for today!  Time to sit with my little girl who’s home with strep today ):  Keep working hard.  Set goals.  Exercise. Eat for fuel.

 

Eat smart be happy!

Well!  It’s been a few!  I have so much good stuff this might turn into a long ramble.  It’ll be good though.  Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We had a wonderful weekend.  It’s my favorite holiday!!  I did fall into a food coma/hangover on Thanksgiving night.  Too many pies to choose from.  Here are a few pictures I took.  Me and my daughter have a tradition going on with this one!  Here we are on Thanksgiving last year and the year before:

And here we are this year!  She’s getting bigger.  Thank heavens I’m not (: ha ha!!  It was pretty cold this year too!  Brrrrrr!

We also took a quick family picture for the annual Christmas card!  Cuties!

Next up, ski season started!  Yay Yay Yay!

I’m looking forward to a great season.  The kids love it!

Now, on to my healthy side, I finished my Jamie Eason Dietbet challenge and I won!  That means I lost 4% of my body weight and won $47.00.  So what’s next, you wonder??  I’m going to try a new program by Amber Dodzweit.  When it comes to anything I want to do well at, I copy what someone else has already done successfully.  She has the most amazing legs.  My focus will be on that.  Her method is about having lean muscle and not the bulk.  She’s not into lifting super heavy but more HIIT workouts.  It’ll be a nice change!

Of course I do have a small injury to report and this one is such a dumb one.  I slipped and fell on a slippery deck down a few stairs and landed on my tailbone.  It’s thrown me out of whack and is such a PAIN! (: It is slowly healing.  This Friday we’re going to Mexico so I’ll have plenty of time for R & R.  I’m so excited and need this in a big way.  I’ll take lots of pics.

I need to say a little bit about FOOD too!  It is everything.  Get used to eating less and cutting out the crap.  No matter how hard you work out, you will be spinning your wheels if you can’t get over your food addictions.  I still fall back many times, but I get back up and keep trying.  When I get back from Mexico I’m going to start this new training program.  One day a week I’ll have a treat meal.  That’s it (: I found a great quote that makes me laugh:

Here are a few of my favorite food staples.  I have them almost daily!

PROTEIN POWDER.  This time I made pancakes with it!

VEGGIES and CHICKEN (or another protein source) and food that is HOMEMADE!  This tomato soup was the BOMB!

My favorite SNACKS.  These are seriously a must for me.  I eat the apples and Quest bar as a one of my meals and the protein balls and fudge bites are usually after lunch or dinner and I need a sweet treat.  I eat one or two.

And lastly, this is a vitamin drink I give my kids every morning.  I swear by it for helping them not get sick.  It’s the best and they tell me they can tell the difference when they drink it.  It’s elderberry juice concentrate and liquid vitamin D.  Stay healthy!

O.K.  I also have a workout for you and a workout pic.  Most of my favorite clothes are exercise clothes (:  I loved this workout!

O.K.  I need to get going and organizing the grand schedule while we’re away.  Enjoy this new song by ONE D.  They have a new album out that my daughter and I listen to almost every day!

And I love this quote.  Live life happily.  Work Hard Forever*

Funny Life and what day of the week should you weigh yourself?

I’ve had a great week!  I need to share a few funny stories.  First off, Happy Valentine’s Day!  I love the red and pink and seeing the kids have fun and I love giving my family little presents on Valentine’s morning and making heart pancakes (: (: (:  We celebrated this morning because who knows where everyone will be Saturday morning?  Here they are:

Our weather has been unseasonably warm this winter.  I’m not complaining at all even if I do like to ski now!  It’s felt like Spring for weeks.  This leads me to STORY #1!  We got a treadmill for Christmas and I’ve only used it a handful of times because of our awesome weather.  Well, I had an hour to spare the other day while all the kids were at school so I decided to run.  It has many fat burning programs to follow.  I found a good 20 minuter.  I thought I was a little better than a beginner so I chose intermediate level.  O.K.  here I am before my run (: so happy!  I did not take an after shot.  I about died.  I’m running merrily along at warm up speed when the treadmill jumps to 8.9 speed and 2 % incline.  That lasted about 10 seconds for me.  I tried to keep up but unfortunately I had to veer off course and lower my speed.  Then!  It alternated with a 7.0 speed and a 6 % incline. Who the heck decided this was intermediate level?  I felt like I was completely out of shape.  However, this has given me determination!  I want to start out on beginner level and conquer each level!  New goal for me!

On to STORY #2!!  My life has taken a busy turn and most of that is due to the Elementary school play that I’m in charge of.  Sounds pretty mild, right?  No no no!!!  I’m the grand organizer on every level and we are down to one month left and I’m feeling a small panic beginning to come over me!  We have practices in the morning before school and I’m there Tuesday-Friday.  My family is on a pretty good schedule, everyone knows who needs to be where and when.  Well, one morning this week I was at practice and my daughter didn’t have to be there.  Everyone else had left for school and work.  She stays home to get ready and be with her little brother.  I leave a little early from practice to pick her up and bring her to school.  As I’m driving home I look at my phone and see a text from my neighbor that my 6 yr. old has knocked on her door.  He was scared because no one was home at our house?  I should mention he wanted to wear his sister’s purple and pink silky jammies the night before (: I figured he didn’t look for his sister.  When I walked in the door, I found her…sound asleep in her warm bed!  Oh lovely!  We were ready in 5 minutes.  I was laughing laughing.  I’m glad I live in a good neighborhood.

Since my life has been slightly hectic lately, two sweet Moms in my neighborhood told me they’d bring me dinner!  STORY #3!  I never say no to dinner and that’s probably the best thing they could do for me.  I’m a foodie myself and I love to make food for people.  So, when I heard my good friend and fellow director had a sick baby with RSV, I had to bring her dinner.  Hmmm…well, I decided to make a big pot of soup and rolls and bring dinner to her.  I felt a little funny making this dinner for her when my friends were bringing me dinner, but I didn’t want to tell them not to?  I tried to time it just right and get the dinner over to my friend’s house before my dinner came, but wouldn’t you know? As I was walking out my door with my arms full, the two of them came walking up my driveway.  I about died laughing again when I told them what I was doing.  Oh geez!!  Once again, what great people I live around.  They laughed too and didn’t mind.  Let’s just say the stress of meal planning has ceased for a few days!

I’ve run out of time and I need to go celebrate Valentine’s with my kids at school!  You’ll have to wait till tomorrow to hear about the best day to weigh yourself and I’ll include a super GREAT overall body workout that I gave my church group this week.  My whole body is sore!

Have a Happy Day!!  Be Mine xoxoxoxo!  Don’t give into the chocolate and treats over the weekend!!

 

Time to get serious!

OK!  First post of the NEW YEAR!!!  Yes, the buzz is around me!  Exercise more, eat better, lose weight.  I’m on board.  I debated about which diet to try…my brain is in constant motion pertaining to health and fitness.  South Beach? Burst Cycle Diet? Whole 30? Vegan?  The list could continue forever.  I get a little crazy when I follow a plan and always seem to fall off the wagon when it’s over.  For this month and next, I’m eating clean and healthy.  That’s it.  Very low sugar.  3 things I’m working on:

• More Protein
• A gallon of water a day
• Less carbs

PROTEIN: I quickly googled the top 10 protein sources.  Put them on your shopping list!

• Turkey or Chicken breast
• Fish (Tuna, Salmon, Halibut)
• Cheese (non-fat mozzarella, cottage cheese
• Pork Loin
• Lean Beef
• Tofu
• Beans (soy beans, kidney, black, white beans)
• Eggs (especially egg whites)
• Yogurt or Milk
• Nuts and Seeds (Pumpkin, almonds, peanuts)

WATER:  Super important.  Everywhere and in every diet or weight loss plan, MORE WATER is recommended.  I think the majority of people get busy and forget to drink, me included.  I’ll be filling up my water bottle several times each day!

LESS CARBS:  What does that mean?  Nothing new, but a proven fact.  Less carbs=lose weight.  I should say BETTER CARBS.  I’m going to aim for 2 carb servings a day for awhile.  This includes oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta.  Eliminate WHITE FLOUR and WHITE SUGAR and you got it down!

My exercise plan is simple right now.  6 days a week as usual.  I’m going to up my running and cardio and or course lift weights 4 times a week.  I’m still working on my 4 day a week workouts.  I’ll have to post them next time!!  LOVE LOVE lifting weights, eating healthy, and then seeing results!!!  Keep at it!!  Work Hard!  And surround yourself with uplifting people who are on board with you as well!!

I’ll end with a SWEET SWEET song!!  I just took on the job of directing our elementary school play, Aladdin Jr., and I’m in heaven each day watching the kids sing and dance!  My little 2nd graders are going to sing this song as a pre-show.  Let’s go fly a kite.  This version is from the movie Saving Mr. Banks.  Such a GREAT movie!  Listening to it always makes me happy.  Love Mary Poppins!  Have a great day!

 

 

Drop inches and feel fantastic!

Happy September!  Today is all about food.  I successfully finished a 21 day healthy eating challenge.  And yes, I bought a new ipod, finally!!  Have a used it?  NO!  I’m thinking tomorrow I’ll get my 10 miler in.  I don’t have much time till my half so I’ve been doing some last minute training (:  We’ll see how this kind of procrastination plays out!  Alright!  This is what I’ve been doing:

I downloaded this 10 page packet that explained all the details.  It’s pretty much lean protein, fats, and veggies with every meal.  For 21 days don’t eat any extra sugar, including fruit.  Dairy is off limits too (:  Sound fun?

Honestly, it wasn’t bad.  It became a habit.  I knew exactly what I could and couldn’t eat and that was all I looked at.  In a nutshell, here are some things I’d eat.  For breakfast, lots of eggs.  I’d usually have 1 egg and 3-4 egg whites.  I’d make an omelet with veggies and put salsa on it.  Some days I’d made a protein shake with chocolate protein powder, ice, water, and spinach.  I usually had 1-2 salads a day with whatever veggies I had on hand.  For meat, I made spare ribs, chicken, turkey burgers, fish, tuna fish.  I’d put whatever meat I had left over on my salads.  I still used dressing.  I don’t like much anyway.  I loved balsamic vinegar on anything.  I’d snack on nuts.  My favorites were almonds, cashews, and pistachios.  Whenever I was out, I’d order vegetables in place of rice or potatoes.  I really wasn’t hungry.  Yes of course I had cravings, but they became easier as a few days passed.  My hardest times were on the weekends, usually Sundays and that’s because my brain has been trained to relax and enjoy whatever food I want on Sundays!  I’m slowly learning that food is just food and you can always have a treat another time!  I freezed several homemade baked goods  to eat later!  Sometimes it was hard in social settings.  People think you’re weird.  Oh well.  As for my body, here are the real results.  I’m 5’7″.

I will make this picture a little smaller though (:  I weighed myself a little bit throughout and took measurements at the beginning, middle, and end.  My one drawback was running.  I do think you need a little more carbs to keep up with running.  I felt more winded and it was much harder.  I will admit that I took a few days off at the end.  Not a great idea.  Still working on that one.  I don’t want to change though so I’m back on.  I will add 2 fruits a day and 2 healthy carbs to help me with my running.  I was happy to be able to fit into all my skinny jeans.  These jeans I picked out for my skinny friend because they didn’t fit me.  Now they do!

Here are a few tips!  The food options are so limited, it helped to have a few supplements on hand.

I’d drink an emege every other day.  The vitamin drink was my treat in the morning mixed with water.  Before my workouts I’d alternate amino energy or C4 and after my workouts I’d drink a muscle milk (not shown).  I’d have a protein shake with spinach every day.  Another funny help was gum.  When you’re eating healthy, all food tastes so much better and a stick of gum was all I needed to lift me up if I wanted something sweet (:

I’m sorry this is so long!!  I’ll keep on eating this way with a few days off now and again.  With losing and maintaining weight, it has to be a lifestyle change.  ALSO, working out like a maniac will do NOTHING if you are not eating properly.  Remember that!  You can’t outrun your fork.

I have plenty of other things to occupy my mind and keep me busy.  Here are a few yard pictures.  I still need a few more bushes.

I LOVE this time of year!  Well, I have a list a mile long to get working on.  I’ll try to be more consistent at my writing.  Have a Wonderful and Happy day!!

 

Why am I not losing weight?

Happy summer rain day!  I’m kind of a weather fanatic.  If I watch the news, the only thing I want to see is the weather.  Weird.  With summer coming to an end, I LOVE LOVE to look at the next five days and still see the highs in the 90’s and lows in the high 60’s.  I need to take advantage of my running days!  They are numbered as Fall starts to sneak up.  WELL!  I can’t say when I’ll be writing on this blog.  Some days and most days I haven’t felt like saying much.  Today, I’ll combine all things health and all things me!!

FIRST, to address my title and question, Why am I not losing weight?  I read a couple articles lately about losing weight (surprise surprise) and this is what I read (another surprise surprise)!  Two things: Which is more effective at losing weight: Eating healthy or exercising?  Number one important way to lose weight is to eat less and eat healthy.  People WAY under estimate the number of calories they eat and over estimate the number of calories burned during exercise.  Eat less and load up on fruits, veggies, and protein.  Nothing new from me!  NEXT, Cardio versus weights?  Again, by a HUGE percentage, lifting weights will help you lose weight easier and faster.  Cardio burns a lot of calories, but lifting weights helps you keep burning weights for hours after your workout, giving you a higher metabolism!  Again, nothing new.  LIFT WEIGHTS!!

This leads me to my WORKOUT of the week!!!  This week I’ve decided to try a few of my favorite workouts.  I think I’ll be doing these workouts for the next few weeks.  I love them!!!  I’ve posted them before.  They are Jen Jewell’s workouts.  There are 4 of them:  Back, Upper body blast, Lower body blast, and Chest/Triceps/Abs. If you love working chest, give this one a whirl.  I died.

 Workout 4:Chest/Triceps/Abs

SUPERSET: 4 SETS

Bench Press-12 reps

Russian Twist with weight-15 reps per side

SUPERSET: 4 SETS

Incline dumbbell Press- 12 reps

Side Bridge holding a weight above your head-15 reps per side

SUPERSET: 4 SETS

Dumbbell Chest Flys-12 reps

Plank- 1 minute

SUPERSET- 4 SETS

Side to side push up- 12 reps

Weighted full sit-up- 20 reps

Decline push up- 12 reps

SUPERSET: 3 SETS

Tricep dumbbell kickback- 12 reps per side

Tricep pushdown or close grip bench press- 12 reps

Seated tricep press with dumbbell- 12 reps

Tomorrow will be a good day too!  7 mile run and back day.    

What else??  Eating has been good.  I find that I give in a little to treats on the weekend, but I get right back on track every Monday (:  Here are a few of my weaknesses that make me cave!

 #1 The weekend (especially Sunday)

#2 Homemade breads

#3 Homemade cookies, brownies, or almost any treat

#4 Peer pressure (At a party and everyone is eating and you feel weird if you don’t eat too)

#5 Tired and overly hungry

Keep me away from these and I’d be 100% clean eating girl.  My biggest problem is the weekend.  So, this week I made a goal to have no treats until 5 pm on Sunday night!  BUT…I might have one treat on Saturday night if we end up going out (:

Next on my list is new pics!  I’ve been doing a little shopping lately and my good friend gave me bags of her old clothes so I’ll be posting cute clothes more often!

Top-Express
Skirt-Boden
Shoes-Dillards

Top-Ann Taylor Loft
Skirt-Boden
Shoes-Greece

As I type, my kids are watching Robots in the other room and I recognize the voice of Robin Williams.  A little sad to hear of his passing.  One of my favorites and definitely one of the most talented actors of all time.  You never know what’s going on in people’s lives.  Be kind.  I’ll be watching Dead Poet’s Society this weekend.  A favorite of mine!

I’ll end with another favorite of mine: music!!  Enjoy!  Be happy!

My copy and paste button is not working.  You’ll have to work a little and look these songs up!!

SHE’S SO MEAN-MATCHBOX 20

I WON’T LET YOU GO-SNOW PATROL

I LIVED-ONE REPUBLIC

“I, I did it all.  I, I did it all.  I owned every second, that this world could give.  I saw so many places.  And things that I did.  Of every broken bone I swear I lived.”

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!

Meals, Moves, and a Movie!

Hello!  I’m back from a very memorable vacation.  School was out last Friday.  Monday we headed down to St. George for the 1st annual GIRL TRIP!  I took these 4 cuties:

We had the BEST time with an array of activities and emotions.  I’ll sum up the trip in a few words: Taylor Swift, laughing, crying, dancing, swimming, food, ice cream, movies, hiking, picture taking, boy craziness, heat, and adventure!!  We definitely bonded and would love to do this all over again!  As much as I love St. George for the blessed heat and beautiful red rocks, I love coming home and seeing the green trees and my flowers blooming like crazy.  Here are a few pics:

My favorite outing was to a new place that’s really an old place!  About 15 miles outside of St. George is a natural springs pool in a city called Veyo.  I love to find hidden local favorites!  This place is an oasis!  We drove off the main road and then down a hill into a canyon of green trees, black rock, and a creek.  The bluest and clearest pool was situated underneath the trees and rocks.  A zip line was above us connecting two rock mountains.  I was told they drain the water and refill it every day.  It was the perfect cool temperature when it’s 100 degrees outside!  Definitely a new stop we’re going to have to hit on our future St. George trips!  We spent about 3 hours there and worked hard on our tans!  I was also told the BEST pie shop is close by too.  I’ll have to scout that one out next time.

As usual, I caved into a little bit of vacation food!  I was good for two of the days and not so good on the last two days.  Let’s just say the road trip home involved diet coke, kettle corn, ice cream, and Mc Donald’s.  I thought I was getting the flu as I went to bed last night!  New goal for me will be to have NO TREATS until my son’s 16th birthday which is in 19 days!  It will make his special day all the better!  I should say MY day all the better.  I’m more excited for him than he is!  To keep me motivated, I’m going to try a few recipe ideas from my favorite healthy Instagram friends.  Look them up!!

purefitpurefood and saraheevans_livingfitnclean

I love them!  They post delicious healthy food and amazing workouts!  Summer is actually the hardest time for me to stay on the healthy eating wagon.  Weird of course!  It doesn’t help when I get an email from my sister that says, “I just wanted to announce to everybody that I booked my plane tickets!  Everyone plan on going off your diets and eating all the yummy treats in town!”  Yes, this sugar fettish of mine is inherited!

Another way for me to stay FIT minded is to mix up my workouts!  Next week I’m going to try a new weight and cardio schedule.

Monday and Thursday-Chest, back, lats, and legs.

Tuesday and Friday-Tricep, bicep, abs, and legs.

Wednesday and Saturday-Traps, shoulders, abs.

Sounds like I’m going to die!  I’ll throw in running and Zumba too (:  My weeks are pretty choppy this summer with camps, Ragnar, and friend trips.  I think next week is my only full week of relative calmness for awhile.  I’ll let you know how this goes at the end of next week!

Also, here’s an ab workout I pinned on Pinterest last week that everyone keeps repinning.  I haven’t tried it, but I will!

Lastly, a movie to see!  I took the girls to MALEFICENT on our trip.  New favorite movie!  It wasn’t what I expected.  I’m not an Angelina Jolie fan and she was phenomenal.  I need to see it again!  When I love a movie, I want to go see it again with everyone I know who hasn’t seen it.  My boys saw it at home too and loved it just as much!  Worth the money!

Well, I need to get busy!  Next on my list is getting my son ready for a high adventure camp, planning a girl’s camp, and helping my daughter with her student’s dance recital!  Make it a GREAT day.  Be (:

 

It’s all about the WEIGHTS

Hello hello!!!  I have a few things to be happy about today.  #1-I’m on DAY 6 of my new healthy lifestyle.  That sounds funny because most people think I’m already healthy.  I should say healthier (:  It’s going well!  I had a weird thing happen today.  I was making my daughter a tuna fish sandwich for lunch.  I’m adding a little bit of mayo and some chopped up dill pickles to my bowl of tuna and I start thinking this looks really good.  I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet so I decided to eat the bowl of tuna!  I’ve reached a new level of cool fitness status.  I’m not just eating, I’m fueling my body (:  Laugh. Laugh.  I ate a cup of honey dew too.  #2 happy news is that I got my old piano teacher back for my kids!!!!  I have slacked off big time in the piano world.  I miss not hearing the piano.  Starting in June, three of my kids will be in lessons.  YAY!  #3 happy news is I taught my first (very weak) Zumba SONG today.  I told my morning clients that we’d do a Zumba song for our warm up.  I had the ipad all set to go and then it decided to NOT play any youtube videos.  Oh sadness, BUT I decided to give it a go anyway and taught them all I could remember.  I’m so proud of myself!  I’m going to have my cute cute Zumba friend video a few simple routines for me so I can learn more and do them with my clients.  I’m for sure not confident to EVER teach a Zumba class.  Only with my BESTY clients (:  #4 great day event was my workout of course!  After my clients left I had time to whip out an UPPER BODY BLAST workout.  Easy easy to do at home.  This is one of my favorite Jen Jewell workouts.  Next week I’ll be back on Jamie Eason for another 5 weeks!

Workout 2: Upper-Body Blast

CIRCUIT: 4 SETS

Jump Roping-200

Plank-1 minute

Mountain Climber-1 minute

Standing Military Press-12 reps

Barbell Curl-12 reps

Burpees-12 reps

CIRCUIT: 4 SETS

Lying Triceps Press-12 reps

Decline Push Up-12 reps

Incline Dumbbell Curl-12 reps

Burpees-12 reps

Side Lateral Raise-12 reps

This leads me into my short blurb about lifting heavy weights.  You will never achieve the results you want without lifting heavy weights consistently!  You can do all the cardio in the world for the rest of your life and you’ll still wonder where the hot bod is?  Lift Heavy, Eat Protein, Drink Water, and do a lot of other stuff and you’ll be a lean sexy machine!  And now for my last contradictory Happy event #5 my friends and I are running (what? cardio?) our favorite trail run tomorrow morn!  I don’t think we’ve been up the mountain yet this year.  I noticed today we still have SNOW.  We’ll see!!  We’ve had a little rain too.  Trail shoes and mud.  I’m also going to try this ISAGENIX energy shot before the run.

I’ve heard a few interesting things about it so I’ll have to report!  Oh, I almost forgot!  I have one more exercise workout to post.   This is a GREAT AB workout on the stability ball. I said to do 20 reps of everything 3 times. Try that! It is pretty intense. 12-15 reps would be fine too.

Doesn’t this look so professional.  My 5 year old photographer is the best!  Well!  I have lots of happy things in my life but I’ll end because I have one unhappy event I need to get ready for.  Junior High band concert.  Have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend.  MOMS ROCK!!!  I have to share this photo of a few awesome WORKOUT MOMS I know.  We all showed up to class on the official wear BLACK to the gym day.  Which is most days!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a little bit o’ fashion for FRIDAY!!  Kick it up a GEAR!