How to get even fitter

HELLO!!  This has been the never ending day!  My goal was to post Monday and Wednesday, but I’m now changing that to twice a week!  Ya never know how a day is going to go sometimes.

Alrighty!  Oxygen Challenge update!  I have 1 month left and I’m seriously getting serious now (:  I talked about having a treat day once in a 10 ten period.  I’m going to do that, but only after October 9!  For 1 month I’ll be sticking to my diet plan 100%.  This month I’ll be carb cycling.  I think I kind of do that already, mostly because I feel guilty after a pig out day and then I go low carb for several days!

First off, I saw this awesome awesome quote from Jennifer Lawrence.  She’s the Hunger Games star.  I love love what she says here:

So, let’s get right to the topic of the day.  How to get even fitter.  Most people I see at the gym don’t seem to change.  I guess everyone is about maintaining.  I am NOT however.  I’m about always improving (:  And I’m not talking about looking sickly thin with no muscle.  Wherever you are on your fitness journey, here are a few ways to push it to the next level.

• Mix it up!!  Stop doing the same workouts day after day.  How boring is that anyway.  I constantly change things up.  I also do a lot of the same stuff too, but I keep my body guessing.
• LIFT LIFT LIFT!  If you want to see your body change, lift weights.  If you’re already lifting, ADD weight and or ADD another set.
• Never miss a workout!  Stay consistent.  I schedule my workouts several days in advance around whatever I have and I never miss them, unless I have an emergency.
• CUT OUT WHITE FLOUR and WHITE SUGAR.  This is even bigger than lifting.  One way to help track your diet and calories is My Fitness Pal.  I LOVE this thing.  It gets tiring to enter in your food every single day, but it helps me eat better and less.  I’ll be doing this for the next month 100%.

So, my goal for the next month is to lower my body fat.  I’m shooting for 13% by October 5.  In order to do this, I’ll track everything I eat in My Fitness Pal.  I’ll cut out sugar and simple carbs and INCREASE protein.  The other day I found a page I’d saved from a magazine from 3 years ago.  It had a low sugar meal plan and a recipe for Chocolate Energy Truffles.  Here are a few examples of what you should be eating to stay low sugar.

• oatmeal, blueberries, hard boiled eggs, protein shakes, strawberries, turkey, whole wheat bread, veggies, hummus, plain greek yogurt, salmon, brown rice, salad greens.  SIMPLE, right?

And if you’re craving some sweet SUGAR, here is the truffle recipe:

1/3 c vanilla protein powder

3/4 c natural chunky peanut butter

1/4 c instant nonfat dry milk

1/4 c agave nectar or honey

1/4 t cinnamon

1/2 t coconut extract

1 T ground flaxseed

2 T cocoa

Combine all ingredients and roll into balls.  Store in airtight container in the fridge.  I think I’ll be making these tomorrow!

Well, I’ll end with two fun photos.  The first one is an ad for the Big Cottonwood Marathon that I ran two years ago.  I came across this picture on Facebook and as I looked closely, I realized the girl in the green was ME!  Ha Ha!  I’m famous (:

And here is a more recent pic from last night!  We did a HIGH fitness class at the park and all the instructors wore these cute matching $5.00 shorts!  It was such a fun night!

I’m a crazy exercise fanatic, but that’s me and I’m glad I am ME (:  Have a wonderful wonderful weekend!!!  Work Hard Always!

12 Week Oxygen Challenge

Alrighty!  I’m going to start off telling you that my computer is having major SLOW issues!  This post will be short and sweet due to my lack of patience!  I have a WONDERFUL trip to report on and an AMAZING 12 week challenge that I’m about to EMBARK on coming up TOMORROW!!!

I have been waiting through the longest month to get started on this.  With my injuries and knowing I’m starting a strict challenge, my exercise and healthy eating life have taken a small dive!  Yesterday I took before pictures and went through the whole measurement thing.  I’m going to weight myself a lot, but I’ll only do measurements and progress pictures every 2 weeks.  This is what I’ll be talking about clear up until October 7th!!!  Seems so far away!  I’m excited to get in the best shape of my life.  My stress fracture is healing up awesomely and hopefully I’ll be able to step it up big time next week!  I do have a small snag in my calendar this week.  For 3 days we’ll be on Pioneer Trek.  I won’t be by a gym (: nor will I be eating exactly what I should, but at least I’ll be walking and walking and walking!

First off, back to my wonderful and amazing trip to SAN DIEGO!  Last December, I purchased 2 tickets to ONE DIRECTION for my 14 year old daughter.  Best money spent!  This trip was a dream come true for her and I was so happy to be a part of it.

We had so much fun being inseparable for 3 days!  We rented a cute mustang convertable and drove all over.  My brother lives close by so we stayed with him and did a few things with his family.  His cute twins enjoyed riding in the backseat as we cruised around singing!  We loved the beach, shopping, sight seeing, and of course One Direction!  Just watching my daughter at the concert was entertainment enough with her crying, jumping up and down, and screaming!  I was quite proud of myself for my mad navigating skills.  I never imagined a concert so huge!  It was in a football stadium that was completely sold out.  65-70 thousand people!  Not to mention Comic Con was going on at the same time and I guess San Diego is headquarters to that big deal too!  Here are some pictures from the trip!

As for my challenge, I’ll get ONE good day in and then be AWOL for a few.  I’ll be following the plan 100%  Back to My Fitness Pal too!  I took a little break from that!  After reading through the material and nutrition program, I wasn’t surprised by anything!  Mostly, I need to remember to eat more often, protein, drink water, and eat lots of veggies.  I haven’t seen the workouts yet, kind of dying to see them!  I’ll be back soon with Trek adventures and tips on how to STAY in the game with being healthy!  My FAVORITE way to be!  I also have a slew of family coming to town right now!  We’ll be hoppin’!!  (:  Remember:

Get fitter and healthier this summer!

Hello and Happy First Day of Summer!!!

Today was a successful and accomplished day!  I’m writing this between 2 baseball games so I’ll be quick!

Last weekend our family went camping for 2 days with my brother and his family.  When I say camping I mean 40 minutes away up a beautiful canyon sleeping in tent trailers and having my brother and his wife cook for us!  I love camping so much! (:  I did contribute the SMORES which I have to admit I went a little overboard!!  I really need to kick the habit of pigging out on the weekend.  This is the funniest thing!  One of my healthy challenge participants emailed me her weight loss success on her Garmin!!  It’s FANTASTIC!!

Now take a look at mine!

What the heck is wrong with me!?  That giant spike is 3 days!  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (:  I have to say though I don’t believe it’s all REAL weight, whatever that means, because when I get home I lose about a pound a day for a few days!  SOOOO my new goal for the rest of the year is… to only have 3 TREAT days a month!  I have officially murdered my New Year’s Goals so now that I’m half way through the year I’m only going to work on this ONE goal!  I think that was my problem, I had too many goals!  What I really want to work on is recording EVERYTHING in MY FITNESS PAL.  When I want to eat too much of everything, I don’t record it (:  I don’t think I could handle seeing 5000 calories on one day!  I have also been ULTRA diligent with my Jamie Eason weight workouts.  Haven’t missed a day in 3 weeks except for last Saturday when we were hiking!  And once again after a strict clean diet, weightlifting is where it’s at!  I really need to cut out cardio next week because my stupid achilles pain flares up every time I do cardio!  I sat down and mapped out my SUMMER WORKOUT SCHEDULE!  This is like Christmas for me (:  Some days I’m sure it won’t be this exactly.

MONDAY: Track weight workout/High Fitness

TUESDAY: Weights/High Fitness

WEDNESDAY: RUN/Weights

THURSDAY: High Fitness/Weights

FRIDAY: Weights/High Fitness

SATURDAY: RUN/Weights

On some of those non running days I will add 20-30 minutes of interval sprints on the treadmill.  When I say weights, I work a different muscle group every day.

This is an example:

Monday:Biceps/Triceps/Abs

Tuesday:Legs

Wednesday: Chest/Abs

Thursday: Shoulders

Friday: Legs

Saturday: Back/Rear Delts

O.K.  Summer is much easier for me to workout since I don’t have to worry about my 6 year old.  He has brothers and sisters galore to play with him.  I thought of something so PROFOUND the other day.  I discovered that when I start to crave something that is not very healthy to eat, it is because I AM HUNGRY!!  Amazing!  So!!  What do I do?  I stop what I’m doing a grab some food out of the fridge and eat yummy healthy food!  After that I am fine and I forget about my cravings!  So, EAT!!  Just for fun, here is what I ate today from My Fitness Pal!

My Dinner!

I only have one small body fat percentage point I want to lose!  I’ll post the whole page of this body composition deal they do at the gym!  It’s interesting and motivating!

Well, I need to be off!  I’ll end with pics from the trip!!  So FUN!!  We especially LOVED the hike to Lake Mary and were surprised by all the snow!!  Ha Ha!!

Slash body fat meal plan

HELLO!!!  I’m so excited for summer!  Our weather is actually cooperating for the moment.  We have one week left of school and then it’s PARTY time (: not completely, but I’m looking forward to a change of schedule!  Next to Christmas, the summer months are the hardest for me to stay diligent with my eating!!  With the late nights, endless parties, family and friends, vacations….it’s easy to lose control!  My healthy challenge that I’ve been in charge of for my friends has been wonderful!  I have heard so much positive feedback and so many have lost weight.  We have one week left!  I told my teams to take a few days off and then start it all over again!  Diet needs to be consistent and a lifestyle.  I’m also proud of myself for sticking with Jamie Eason weeks 5 and 6!  Next week I’ll be stepping it up and I’m looking forward to pushing myself.

I bet many of my readers and Instagram followers think I’m constantly on vacation.  Well I guess I am! (:  Last week I took the girls and friends to St. George!  We had a great time!  Here are my pics. of the week.  Lots of swimming in SG and the last one is a favorite workout outfit of mine.  Lulu tanks are my fav because they are LONG.  This was at the gym right after my workout!

OK!!  I need to be quick because I have to eat lunch and make food for our latest weekend getaway!  We’re going camping and hiking with my bro!  It’s kind of an annual tradition.  Only 2 nights, but I love it!  So relaxing.  I love the fire and the SMORES (:

I read an article that caught my eye on the Yahoo Financial page.  It was about a company that had 3 of their employees follow a strict diet and exercise program.  The exercise program was 4 months long and then the diet was the last 30 days.  They agreed to this with the knowledge that they would pose naked for a marketing advertisement.  It was tastefully done.  I won’t post pics. but you can look it up!  I’m always interested in the way people fine tune their bodies.  The man got his body fat down to 5% and the girls were between 12-14%.  I copied a few things from the article!  I thought it was very true and interesting!!

Diet was the key to their success “No matter how much exercise you do, that will only get you part of the way. In terms of seeing abs and muscle definition, it’s all about diet and reducing your body fat percentage. That’s essential,” Moritz says. For the last four weeks, the Viceroy executives committed to a grueling diet. The goal, said Moritz, was to cut body fat so that the muscles they’d been toning for the previous four months would shine through.

For Moritz — who was still able to recite the diet by heart months after the shoot — the meals consisted of:

Meal 1: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup blueberries, one scoop carb-free protein shake

Meal 2: 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup plain potatoes

Meal 3: 3 oz. ground turkey, low-carb wrap with a cup of romaine lettuce

Meal 4: 3 oz. grilled chicken and 1/4 of an avocado

Meal 5: 6 oz. fish with a 1/4 cup steamed jasmine rice and six pieces of asparagus

Meal 6: 6 oz. of 99% lean ground beef with 1/4 avocado and 1 cup romaine lettuce

No alcohol was allowed and most condiments were banned (with the exception of hot sauce, since it added a negligible amount of extra sugar or fat) That’s it, each and every day, for an entire month!  In addition to the diet, the executives stuck to a grueling fitness routine. All of them worked out every day for an hour and a half, seven days a week with the help of professional trainers at their local Equinox gym.

After following My Fitness Pal for almost 2 weeks, I know it is all about diet!  I think people misjudge the amount of calories they consume by about 1000 every day!!  My husband probably thought I was cooky when I told him I wanted to buy a food scale!  Maybe I’m extreme, but I love it!

Alrighty, that’s all I got for today!!  I’m going to go cut up veggies and fruit and make protein balls and fudge bites for camping!!  Have a wonderful SUNNY weekend!!

7 Steps to lower Body Fat

How many years have you been going to the gym?  I started going to a small gym in Bountiful called Bountiful Fitness when the first in my group of friends turned 16 and we had someone to drive us there!  I’ve been a member of MANY gyms since then.

I was talking with a friend the other day about how the majority of people you see at the gym, day after day, month after month, and year after year rarely show a change in their bodies.  I don’t mean to be discouraging, but it’s kinda true.  #1 reason why is CONSISTENCY!  and #2 reason why is DIET!  I have found that EVERY week, Monday and Tuesday are packed at the gym and then the numbers dwindle to almost nobody by Friday and Saturday.  I would guess that most people have the “I WILL START OVER ON MONDAY” mentality.  I am GUILTY of that FOR SURE!!!  HOWEVER, to lose weight or lose body fat you MUST eat and workout DRAMATICALLY and CONSISTENTLY better!!

I just set up an appointment to have my body fat tested.  I’m going to do the hydrostatic underwater test that is the most accurate of body fat tests on Saturday, October 20th!!  That gives me 2 weeks!  I found great articles from LIVESTRONG.COM about lowering your body fat.  Here are the 7 steps I will be following over the next 2 weeks!!

1-Add more fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, whole grains, and lean meat in your diet.  Obviously cut out cakes, cookies, ice cream, deep-fried foods, and candy.  Dang it!

2-Drink a full glass of water with your meals and all through the day.  I think most people don’t do this enough!

3-Eat small meals every 2-3 hours and start eating as soon as you wake up.

4-At restaurants, stick with foods that are boiled, broiled, baked, or steamed and avoid excess dressing, cheese, creamy sauces, and butter.

5-Chew your food slowly.

6-Spend 3 days (preferably 6) doing high intensity interval training.  You can do this with running, spinning, stair climbing, jump roping etc.  Start out slow and go back and forth between high bursts of speed and energy to lower intensity.

7-Build muscle in the weight room.  When you add 3 lbs. of muscle you have the potential to burn an extra 1,000 calories a week.  I’m a HUGE advocate of weight lifting.

There are many more tips and advice at Livestrong.com.  GREAT WEBSITE!!

I’m always into inspiring words and people.  I read this quote today that I love!

“When the path ignites a soul,

there’s no remaining in place.

The foot touches ground, but not for long.”

Hakim Sanai

Last thoughts and tips for this SPECTACULAR day!

Be 4 you start a plan, write it down!

U never know what you can do until you try!

Hands Down, I feel better when I eat better!  So profound.