3 basics for losing fat and building muscle

Hello!!  Today is a gorgeous FALL day!!  This morning we went on our favorite trail run!  I set my timer.  Each week I want to get faster and be able to keep up with my friends.  I hope the weather holds for as long as possible.  The leaves are perfect right now!  We made it up in 42:42 and down in 30.10.  Next week, 40 and 29 (:  Great way to start the week and day!!

Well, my Oxygen Challenge ended and I’m a little upset at myself because I didn’t eat the way I should have!  I saw my normal results when I go strict for a short time.  I need to work on maintaining my strict bod for longer (:  My friends and I decided to do NO SUGAR OR WHITE FLOUR for 30 days!  Surprise surprise!  We talked again about how nutrition is about 80% of the results.  Soooooo, starting today until November 10th.  I’m on.  It’s more fun to do it with friends!

This will be an amazing 30 days.  I’m still sticking to my 12 week weight lifting program.  I decided to do Amanda’s Month 2 workout for the first 4 weeks and then hop over to Jamie Eason’s for the last 8 weeks.  The next 4 weeks will look like this, but not necessarily in this order.

Monday: Lower Body

Tuesday: Shoulders, biceps, triceps, cardio

Wednesday: Amanda’s better-booty workout

Thursday: Lower body, abs

Friday: Back, chest, HIIT

Another thing I’m going to work on that I’m not too consistent with is taking supplements.  I read an article from Samantha Ann Leete on bodybuilding.com about supplements.  I like what she recommended.

This might look like a lot of craziness, but I’m going to experiment and see if it makes a difference.  This is what I’ll be taking on a regular basis.

Multi-Vitamin

Vitamin C

Calcium

Glutamine

Krill or Fish Oil

CLA

Protein Powder

BCAA’s

Emerge

In a nutshell, most of these supplements will assist in fat loss, support a healthy cardiovascular system, increase immunity, support brain function and nervous system, provide joint support, help manage inflammation, preserve muscle, reduce body fat, and help build, sustain, and recover.  Whew!  Miracle workers pretty much.  I purchase these at Max Muscle, GNC, or bodybuilding.com

I’m set!  The top 3 basics for losing fat and building muscle are: Nutrition goals, workout plan, and supplements.  I’ll keep up with my posts on how I look and feel.  As always I love a challenge and setting goals.  Now get to work work!!  (:

Running, Amazing Shoes, and a 12 week keep the holiday weight off fitness plan

Hello!  Happy October!!  Love this month.  O.K.  it has almost been a week now since my latest 1/2 marathon!  Sorry for the delayed report.  I was slightly nervous for this run because of my injury and I felt like I wasn’t in the best running shape.  The  weekend turned out perfect except for I could have been about 18 minutes faster (:  I finished in 2:00!  The course was beautiful, weather was perfect, and I loved finishing!  I was a little sore for a couple days, but I jumped right back into my normal workout routine on Monday and I feel great!

This week I started running with my 14 year old daughter!!  I’m so happy about this.  We ran 3.2 miles.  We want (or I should say I want us) to run two days a week!  I also ran my favorite trail with my friends!  One thing that’s good about me is I’m stubborn and ultra committed.  I’m going to take one of my runs every week to be my improvement run.  I’ll do the same distance faster each week (:  I also want to work on hills more.  Here are the photos from my latest runs!

Next up!!  My favorite shoe to report on!  I stubbled across this shoe from someone else who bought it.  I did a little research and noticed people were raving about it.  The best part is you can buy it on Amazon for as low as $28.00 right now.  Click HERE to see all the color selections!! It’s called the PUMA Women’s Pulse XT Geo Cross-training shoe.  I do a lot of high intensity jumping and moving laterally and these are the comfiest shoes with the perfect amount of stability and cushioning.  I’ve already bought two pair!  Here I am looking rather sporty in them (:

Well!  My 12 week Oxygen Challenge is coming to an end so normally I say to myself, What’s next!  Well, major improvements is what’s next!  I was good with the workouts, but the eating was another story!  I follow and read about so many different workouts and fitness that it can get overwhelming in my brain at times.  As with everything, I need to simplify!  Here is the official 12 week plan!!

Start Date: Monday, October 12.  I’m not off the wagon right now, I’m just starting it on the 12th because that is 12 weeks till the end of the year!

Diet: Healthy, clean eating.  Small portions.  Fruits/Vegetables.  Protein.  Supplements.  Tons of water.  No white flour or white sugar.  Once in awhile I’ll eat a little white flour.  I’m reading labels and nothing over 6-7 grams of sugar per serving.  No eating after 8:00 p.m.  I’ve done all this before (: nothing new.  Here is the NEW twist!!  I’ll eat this way 9 out of 10 days.  I’ll pick 1 day in 10 where I can eat treats!!  Only on this day will I eat whatever I want guilt free and then the next day, I’m back on 100%.  The rewards are definitely worth it!!

Exercise: Throughout the Oxy Challenge I kept looking at Jamie Eason’s 12 week Show Me The Weigh program.  It’s on bodybuilding.com HERE.  The best thing is she posts every exercise in video on Instagram!!  Like this:

So, I’ll start with week 1 and not miss a day (:  I’m going to keep track of weight and measurements once a week too.  The biggest thing I want to stay true to is the 9 on 1 off eating approach.  100%  I’ll keep you updated!

Well, I gotta get going!  Time to run with my daughter and her motivation is waning!  To end, I follow this girl on Instagram.  Her bod will be my goal (:  She leaves motivational quotes all the time too.  This one is good, but my favorite one she said recently was, “A lot of people wake up on Mondays with a sense of I have GOT to get myself together.  By Wednesday, they can’t wait for the weekend to engage in the things that made them hate Monday!  Don’t let this week own the rights to your motivation!  You dictate the terms!!  Have a GREAT one!!  WORK HARD FOREVER!

Hit the mountains!

This week has been a blur!  I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday!!  I’ve tried to fit more than humanly possible into the last week before school!  My friends and I were able to fit in two of our favorite runs!!  On Friday we ran our favorite trail.  We did the whole loop this week!  Yay!  10 1/2 miles and on Monday we ran down Big Cottonwood Canyon.  That ended up being 15 miles.  Both were so beautiful!  Here’s a pic. from Friday’s run!

Since Mondays run I’ve been pretty wasted.  It doesn’t help that we’ve been staying out late with friends every night this week past midnight.  I’m still getting up early and trying to do it all on 5 hours of sleep.  I need a major re-organization of my life and goals!!  I’m such a mental person.  On Friday after my run I was at my favorite 129 lb. weight.  My brain goes back to “I can slack on my eating” and I lose it!  I’m going to start yet another 5 week plan (my race is in 5 weeks) and NOT weigh myself.  I’ll give the full details ASAP!!  I’ve been juggling many tasks in my brain for the last several days and after realizing that I can’t have 3 of me, I’ve decided I need to drop a few things.  I’ve upped my jobs at both my kids schools this year and although I LOVE training, I’m going to have to change how I do that!  I’m hoping to be more of a counselor of weight loss and fitness.  I’ll still make up plans and show them how to eat and exercise, but I’m going to cancel most of my workout classes!  I’ll give the details on my fitness plan in a day or two.  With the start of school, I’m ready for a change!

I’ll end today with a Sunday pic. of me and my girls!  And two quotes I’ve had sitting on my computer for awhile!  Keep working hard and get some sleep already!!!

Happy Day 14

Hi hi!  I am waiting for the windshield guy.  Not happy with “we’ll be by between 9 and 1”  Really?  Not that I don’t have PLENTY to do at home (:  Of course I want to write for a few minutes and then I’ll get busy!  Today started out wonderfully with my favorite 7 mile trail run.  Our numbers were few today because some of my friends need to rest up for the marathon.  So, here I am with one of my besties.  We glory in the fact that we live right below this beautiful place that so many enjoy.

I have a fashion shot to share too.  But first a quick success story of my own.  On my trip last month I bought a new Lululemon skirt.  Here’s a picture in boring black.  Mine is a cute multi striped blue.  Anyway, I don’t have a picture yet.  I’ll get one next week.  So, I bought my usual size without trying it on.  I got home and attempted to put it on.  Whoa…this style is a very different cut and much tighter than the other Lulu skirts I’ve worn.  I could barely get it over my hips and then it looked awful.  Too tight everywhere and too short.  I thought I’d have to give it to my tiny petite friend.  However, a week and a half into my 8 week challenge I tried it on for Zumba AND it actually fit, so much better that I even wore it!  Amazing I know!

I think what’s helping me the most is the increase in fruits and vegetables.  I also don’t do any white flour or white sugar.  It’s not as hard or as bad as it sounds.  I make healthy treats that satisfy my sweet tooth.  I still stop for a KEVA juice and a big slice of whole wheat bread now and again.  Diet is not a bad word.  I also close up shop at 8 or 8:30.  No more eating after that hour.  I was extremely tempted by a pan of lemon bars I made this week.  Oh  YUM!!!  I didn’t snitch at all and I told myself they will always be there and I’ll eat them later.  That reminds me, I actually froze a few of them.  I’ll be pleasantly surprised one day when I find them (:

Well, enough chit chat.  Keep pluggin’ along.  I need to work shoulders and then I’m heading outside to work in the yard.  I need SUN!  Here’s my fashion shot of the day.  This top is the most comfy and cutest thing ever.  My husband picked it up at the Sundance Outlet.  I love a great pair of white shorts too!  I should have taken this outside with better lighting.

Top-Sundance

Shorts-Polo

Sandals-Famous Footwear

Have a beautiful weekend!

Top 10 songs not to skip

Happy Rainy DAY 7 Friday!  I should have RUN this morning!!  I planned a trail run with my friends.  It was so rainy a few of us went to the gym instead.  I found out later that three of my friends conquered the trail anyways wearing garbage bags and not minding the rain and mud.  They said it was beautiful!  We could have snapped a good picture too!  Maybe I’ll run up the trail later today (:

I have three items of business to share today!  Firstly, is my top 10 playlist of the day.  I put my songs on shuffle and skipped the ones I wasn’t in the mood for.  Here are the first 10 songs that I didn’t want to skip on my ipod:

Poison-Your Mama Don’t Dance

Will.I.Am-Fall Down

Phillip Phillips-Gone Gone Gone

Def Leppard-Hysteria

Def Leppard-Rocket

Journey-Don’t Stop Believin’

Zedd-Clarity

David Guetta-Titanium

Phillip Phillips-Raging Fire

Katy Perry-Part of Me

Secondly, I need to repost an awesome healthy treat recipe.  I made these babies the other day for my workout girls.  They were a hit.  I’m craving more.  It’s from Chocolate Covered Katie.

German Chocolate Fudge Bites

(Makes 10-14 balls)

1 cup pitted dates
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/16 tsp salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut
1/3 to 1/2 cup raw pecans

Blend all ingredients together very well. (I recommend using a food processor.) Squish the dough together.  Roll into balls, cookie-cuttered shapes, or bars… or you can even use it for a pie crust!

I bought a container of dates from Costco the other day.  They still had the pits in them.  It was easy to cut them out and cut up the dates.  It blended better that way.  Super delish!

Thirdly and lastly, is my fashion shot.  I think this was last Sunday.  I bought the blouse when I was in Connecticut visiting my Sis.  I love my silver sandals too.  I could run in them!

Top-Banana Republic

Skirt-J Crew

Sandals-Boden

Well, I need to take a short break while I have an empty house and cuddle up with some sugar free hot chocolate!  Then, I’ll get after the bathrooms and laundry.  I’m glad it’s the weekend.  Have a good one!

Trail running at it’s BEST!!

Happy Spring!  I am back after another WEEK again!  Geez!  This will be a catch up post with lots of pictures!!  I’ve had a busy couple of weeks. The school play was especially time consuming.  Add my personal training and my own training for Boston and loads of day to day “to do’s” and I about fall apart.  ABOUT is the key word!  Never will I really fall apart (:  Mostly, I want to talk about the 16 (close to 17) mile trail run we did on Saturday.  It was at Antelope Island.  LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!  Here are some pics!  We started out on the chilly, windy side, but right away the sun came out and the weather couldn’t have been better!

 

This is definitely a keeper and a tradition with my friends.  The feel of this run is so different than other races.  Everyone is a little more rustic and they all absolutely LOVE running, especially outdoors and on the trails.  Super friendly, super fit, and super happy people!!  I felt great!  We didn’t run together, which was fine.  I enjoyed the semi alone time with many other runners and the views were breathtaking.  The trail was very much up and down and over sand, rocks, and dirt.  Switch backs, uphills,and downhills too.  I love this elevation chart!!  And I especially love the HIGH I feel after running something like this.  My body and mind were shot from a crazy few weeks and I kept telling myself that the human body is amazing and can surpass what we think we can do…ALWAYS!  The post race buffalo stew certainly hit the spot too!

Just to throw a few stats out there!  I am now 40 and I move up to the next GREAT age bracket.  My time was 2:49.  About 10 minutes faster than last year.  I was 6th in my age group (would have been 15th in the “OLD” age group) and 82nd overall out of 300.  I’m good with that!

Well!  We have Spring Break this weekend and many other FUN and much needed events coming up!  I do have 2 fashion pictures to share.  First outfit: lunch date with my friends.  Second outfit: Me and my son!  He had on a new suit yesterday and wanted a picture with me.  Ohhhh…how I could eat him up!!!  He’s getting so BIG!

Time to go!  I need to make some turkey meatballs for a lunch I’m hosting today.  Have a beautiful DAY!!  Work Hard!!

 

Love the view

One more post before I go camping tomorrow.  Yesterday we had a beautiful 11 mile birthday run through the mountains above where I live.  I’m grateful my legs and feet were able to take the beating with my 13 mile run the day before.  Afterwards we sat on the lawn and had bagels!!  Here are a few pictures.  I need a real camera I know!

My wildflowers!

I HEART my friends!!  They don’t know how much they mean to me 🙂  Keep on running up that trail.  It’s worth the spectacular view from the top!!

Magnificent.  Uplifting.  

 

Hello Trails!

We had a birthday to celebrate amongst my friends today which called for our first trail run of the season!  Every time we head east, 2 minutes away from our homes and run up the mountain and above the city, we are always truly grateful that we live so close to such a beautiful place.  It was the perfect temperature too!  It’s 7 miles up and down.  Only one of us crashed on the way down this time.  Battle scars rock!

It’s such a great time of year to get active and moving!  I have my first client set up to personal train too!  Do I have any idea where to start?  Not really.  I called a friend of mine who is a personal trainer and who’s done a fitness competition too and I’ll have her give me a few pointers.  I know what I want, but I think my challenge will be devising a plan that someone else wants.  It’ll be fun of course.  The teaching part of my fit life might be on hold for a bit right now too.  Changes to the gym are not making me too happy and my favorite class has been cancelled.  Not a big deal.  Monday I’m going to get back into my Jamie Eason weight training and get very serious about my diet.  I looked up the fitness competition I want to do and it’s on October 19th!!!  5 months.  Next week I’m hoping to meet with trainers from Team Huegly and then I’ll get rolling.  It’ll be a fun challenge and I’m looking forward to learning a lot.

Life is too short.  Do what you love and go after every dream!  I need to get working on my yard and adding more plants and flowers.  Next week I’ll share my before and after shots of the front of my house that I want to work on.  We picked up a bunch of potted plants and hanging baskets this week and they are perfectly calming to me.  Here are a few from my yard.

Chocolate chip cookies are perfectly calming to me too!!  Yum!

Be happy and have a Fit and Fabulous weekend!!

 

 

Where the buffalo roam

 

This weekend my faithful running friends ran The Antelope Island Buffalo Run.  All I can say is…SPECTACULAR!  One of my friends runs it every year.  I have needed several years to achieve my “hard core” running status to be able to run this race!  For one thing, it’s in March.  The weather is iffy around these parts in March and more often than not it favors the not so good weather side.  Such was the case this year…but I’ve built up my status remember?  We left our cozy home town in a blizzard (one thing great about the race is the 9:00 a.m. start time).  I didn’t think much of that because we live under a snow cloud most of the winter.  I knew it would be clear 30 miles northwest of us, and it was.  Sunny and cold (30 degrees) was the forecast with a little wind.

This is not the normal road race.  These runners are ONE with nature and a little scraggly around the edges.  I have now joined the WEIRD runners club, although I think I was already a member 🙂  We had several distances to choose from.  We chose the safest and most popular distance, 25K.  I didn’t even know how long that was.  To be exact, it’s 16.6 miles.  A select few chose the OTHER distances; 50 K, 50 miler, and 100 miler!!!!!!!!  I know for a FACT I will not go up any more K’s than 25!!  We LOVED LOVED the race, course, scenery, and camaraderie.  Here is a picture of what some of the course looked like.

I thought this chart was interesting too.  This shows the elevation of the course.  We were up and down running switchbacks on sand, gravel, dirt, and grass.  Trail running with 300 of my closest friends!  A few times I would have loved a bike!!

The other “roughin it” part of the race is there are NO porta potties on the course and if you want water and you didn’t bring your own, you get to share reusable cups 🙂  Such an adventure that we will add to our MUST DO races each year!  As you cross the finish line they hand you a mug with a chocolate milk in it and then you can go inside a big warm tent to stretch, get a massage, and sample the famous BUFFALO STEW.  Everyone brings a can to add to the pot!  I was surprised at how well I felt during and after the run.  The only issue I had was my calves cramped up for about 20 minutes after the race.  I rubbed them out and had something to eat and drink and they improved quickly.  My second toe always hurts a little after long runs too.  My KNEES felt AWESOME!!!  I feel so blessed.  I 100% believe it’s because of my weight training.  Since I’ve started lifting more, I rarely feel pain in my knees from running.  Happy for me and my almost 40 year old bod!  Here is a post race pic. enjoying our buffalo stew!  I know we need to get more creative with these.  I wanted to hop out of the car after the race and take a snap with a buffalo, but was turned down by that idea.  We saw plenty of buffalo and antelope on the run.  Very pretty day!

 It’s the start of another week!  I had a few treats after my run!  I’m going to be super clean eating girl until Sunday and then I’ll reserve a small window to enjoy Easter dinner.  My Beautiful Outside Free Fantastic Awesome races are The Best***

 

A breath of fresh air

I have many “breaths of fresh air” in my life and I am grateful for each one!  First off, a NEW month is a breath of fresh air to me.  I don’t know why.  It’s mental in my mind, but I like fresh starts!  Saturday was DECEMBER 1st and my friends and I were blessed with a WARM morning, so we took off up our favorite trail!  We are all VERY much alike.  Trails are our favorites!  We commented on the rising sun, the woodsy smell of the leaves and trees, and of course the feeling of exhilaration in running up the trail and then especially flying back down.  We came across a few ice patches, but we had no casualties!  Here are a couple funny pictures.  We only passed 2 people on the trail so we didn’t have anyone to take our picture.  We skillfully piled in this picture and had to take it 3 times since we kept cutting our heads off.  It was so funny!
Here’s another one!

I have so many running friend pictures I think I’ll make a quilt out of them!

My next breath of fresh air is the COLORS for my new kitchen and living area.  I finally decided on them and I WILL NOT change my mind again!!  Lately I have been loving the sea green/blue color and I’ve been trying to find the perfect one.  Funny story, my husband and I were shopping at Target over the weekend and strategically placed near the check out is this beautiful sea green sweater that keep calling my name.  Finally after all the groceries were scanned, my husband goes to the rack and asks me, “Medium or small?”  So nice!

Sea green Target sweater. Love!

Here are my COLORS:

Benjamin Moore Sea Glass

Benjamin Moore Shale

Here are a few room examples:

The kitchen will be sea glass and the living area will be shale.  I will definitely add splashes of color!  This will be my SEA and the yellow and orange bits of decor I add will be my SUN!

For my MENU item of the week I want to post a baked oatmeal recipe.  My friend has made these for me several times.  She cooks them in muffin tins and freezes them!  Genius idea!  How nice it is to grab my ready made oatmeal muffin from the freezer, heat it up in a bowl, add a little almond milk and cinnamon and that’s it!

Baked Oatmeal

Combine: 2 c. oats, 1/2 c. agave nectar or honey, 1 t. baking powder

Add and stir: 1 1/2 c. water, 1/2 c. applesauce, 1 T flax, 1/2 scoop protein powder

Scoop into greased muffin tins and add raisins, nuts, and coconut on top of each one.

Bake at 375 for 20  minutes.

I will be making this today!  I have much more to post later this week about my INSANE Eat to Live diet, New Year Resolutions, and workouts!  Till then, find a breath of fresh air in your life, keep it there, and remember how nice it feels!!

Last night I was reading to the kids as they dressed up my hair.  Silly fun!  Sometimes exercise is fine only 3 days a week.  Keep Smilin’ (: