unsexy Archives -

One common mistake people make when trying to make a change!

03|1|2017

One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up…..instead of what they have to gain.

Has this ever been you?

I know it’s been me!

In fact, I’m in the midst of a detox that I had on the shelf for months because I was SO caught up in what I’d have to give up (TEMPORARILY at that….well, here’s to HOPING most of it is temporary because y’all know I don’t like deprivation) vs. how it could help me.

I had to make the decision that the good would outweigh the bad and jump in already!

What things did I not wanna give up?

Wellllllll……

Time ~ I knew I was going to have to spend more time planning my meals, grocery shopping & meal prep
COFFEE
Sugar ~ aka CUPCAKES
Gluten ~ aka CUPCAKES
Alcohol
After Phase 1, animal protein….so no eggs or meat/fish for at least two weeks
Gum ~ I chew sugar-free but the guide says the chemicals and artificial sweeteners in it can affect your body, especially if your body is in a state of inflammation and stress. AND, did you know the second you start chewing, it stimulates your digestive system?! So, your body is “thinking” is gonna get food and then it doesn’t. One of the main goals with this detox is to let your digestive system “rest” as much as possible throughout the day and night.

Giving up anything you love, even for a period of time, goes back to those #unsexy things I talk about on Tuesdays (ha, now Wednesday….yes, late getting it done again!) ~ those things that may seem hard and sometimes unimportant in the short-term but can lead to HUGE progress down the road.

So, like I said, I had to make the decision to just do it.

It’s been challenging and I’m only 8 days in.

But, I’m doing it!

And, what have I already gained?????

Welllllll……

Time ~ ha, didn’t I just say I knew I’d have to give up time to plan, shop & prep? Well, what I found was that while it took more time upfront, I make several day’s worth of meals at once and SAVE time throughout the week when I’m busier! AND, I’m not as tempted to reach for something not on the plan and not stressed wondering what I’m gonna eat.
The sugar has been tough. I didn’t realize the mindless candy snacking I was doing at work. I mean, I did KNOW I was having too much candy during the day between different offices and the breakroom around here but now that I’m not doing it, it’s an eye-opener on how often I was walking into an office JUST to get candy! Nothing even work-related lol.
Gluten is one thing I’ve wondered about being sensitive to. But, there are lots of schools of thought out there that gluten intolerance is way less common than it seems in the midst of the gluten-free craze. I’m going to wait longer before I re-introduce it and find out. I’ve also thought of doing a test a friend suggested to me for peace of mind. It’s kinda spendy but it would be SO worth it if it were accurate. I’ll be talking more about that in posts down the road should I choose to try it 🙂 If you’re curious WHAT it is right now, you can reply to this post and I’ll send you the deets on it. I read one person found out she couldn’t eat PAPRIKA. I meant how random is that BUT how awesome would it be to KNOW you should avoid paprika lol. I’ve also learned through this process that often the body can build up intolerances to food. Say, you ate chicken every day for months….your body could POTENTIALLY develop an intolerance to chicken. Fascinating, right?! Ok, maybe I’m a nerd but I love nutrition and the body amazes me, so I find it very intriguing to learn more. Especially since one of the signs of an intolerance is bloating, and since before I started this I would often bloat to the point I looked like I was 7 months preggo, I’m very excited about the possibility of narrowing some of this down!
Ahhhhh, beer and wine. Yes, I do miss having beers with friends or my not-every-night-but-a-few-times-a-week glass of wine or TWO. BUT, I can tell you I don’t miss any headaches I would get or just that blah feeling.
The eggs and meat has been more challenging than I thought it would be. I LOVE EGGS! And, while I don’t LOVE meat all the time, for some reason I’m dreaming of filet mignons wrapped in as much bacon as possible lol. #gofigure ~The last time I craved meat like this was when I really WAS preggo! #noimnot ~And, my hubby caught fresh perch last weekend and I was dying to have some. I like perch even more than walleye! #yummo ~So, I WILL say I’m anxious to slowly add animal protein & fish back in and hit the Whole30. Ha, and then I will probably get sick of meat again.
The no gum has been tough. I love having a fresh mouth! But, this one turned out not to be a deal breaker lol.
I saved the hardest for last lol. COFFEE. #coffeemakestheworldgoround #asdocupcakes ~ Ummmm, safe to say this has been my hardest part. I keep hoping one day I will wake up and not wanna run for my Keurig. Like I said, I’m into week 2 and it hasn’t happened yet where some of the other cravings have gone. So, I’m gonna guess this one isn’t going anywhere. A friend told me she heard some people don’t like the taste of it after going through something like this. I guess we shall see! And, one of the most common questions I’ve been asked since I started this is “Why no coffee???” I’ll talk about that in a separate blog post but it mostly has to do with getting your body back to a balance of alkaline/acidic. I’m not sure my body is in out of balance and more acidic BUT giving up coffee for now is one of the ways to help find out AND reverse it.

Anyhoo, there ya have it! My most recent experience of delaying making a change because of how uncomfortable it would be for me. But, as the saying also goes, I decided the pain of staying the same would be worse than the pain of change.

So, if you’re out there feeling like I did a few months ago…..knowing you need to do something different but you just can’t seem to get started or you just don’t WANT to out of fear of failure and more, make a list of all the reasons you want something different for your life. Then, read those things over and over and over every day for a while. And, then, just DECIDE. It’s up to you. AND, THEN, PUSH THROUGH….because it will be hard before it gets easier 🙂 (If I can do it, YOU can do it! #forrealslol) If you want something different, you have to do something different 🙂

Oh, and just so you know, this is a post about nutrition and doing a detox plan BUT the idea of deciding you’re ready to make a change applies to so so many areas in your life! I’m reading a new book ~ a book that I’ve actually had for a long time now but hadn’t started ~ and as I was finishing reading my chapter tonight, this stood out to me ~ The Law of Diminishing Intent says, “The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.” John Maxwell in 15 Laws of Invaluable Growth

Let that sit for a moment. That hit me hard because a few short years ago I was so so close to “never actually doing it”….to never actually dreaming big…..to never actually taking action….to never actually failing forward. That would’ve been so sad if I had waited even a day longer 🙂

Transformation Tuesday & Bringing Unsexy Back….again

02|14|2017

This is a little bit different than most #transformationtuesday pics you may see out there on social media these days but these are my before and after and during/before images!

The pic on the left was when my daughter was about 7 months old and since I had only gained 17 lbs. being pregnant, I had lost the baby weight by this time. I wasn’t, however, getting very far otherwise. I was still hovering in the high 190s….still trying to find my way….dabbling in a little bit of running and such. But, definitely didn’t have any plans or specific goals and was very loosely following WeightWatchers online. (btw, I’m STILL totally a WW fan….always will be. If done right, it’s a great program! But, for the majority of my WW experience, I used my Pts for SmartOnes & Lean Cuisines, 100-cal snack packs, and drank Diet Coke like it was going out of style!)

The middle pic is after I had been a coach for a little over a year and a half. I had done programs like ChaLean Extreme, TurboFire, P90X3, several rounds of the 21 Day Fix, Body Pump and most of the time I was utilizing the 21 Day Fix/Portion Control containers with clean eating. I got down to about 154 lbs. from 199 and was wearing a size 6 in some things. I had taught Zumba for a while. (AMAZING CLASS if you ever have the chance to go live!!!) This was a time in my life where I was completely falling in love with fitness! In fact, I fell so in love with it, there was a period of time in this season where I would begin to over-exercise. (I’ve talked about that before and will more but that’s for another blog post for the sake of time!)

During this time, I was learning to break up with the scale. I was learning that strength training was so so important and that I was more concerned with being lean, tone and strong than reaching a goal weight. So, while I was happy with my weight loss, I was working hard to let go of the hold the scale had had on my for so so long. For as long as I can remember before I started coaching, I’d been addicted to and controlled by it. I would weigh every day, several times a day. I let it dictate my moods. And, there were times when if it was up, I said screw it and I binged. There were times it was even DOWN and I somehow convinced myself I deserved a reward….of food…and I binged. This would be a vicious cycle for me between college years and before I had my daughter.

After I had her, I realized more and more I wanted to change…NEEDED to change. Not just for her, but for me, too. She needed to see an example of a healthy, strong woman in her life who didn’t use food as a coping mechanism. It had to start with me. I didn’t want the life I had lived to be her life. I knew from the moment I was pregnant that she would need me, but I had no idea at the time how much I was really the one who needed her…

And, so to talk about that pic on the right for a bit.

This is a stronger-on-the-inside me than ever before. But, this is a girl who needs to get back to taking care of her body. I’ve been taking care of my mind and soul and healing….but somewhere along the lines I kinda forgot the part about my fueling and taking care of my body. And, so many things have suffered. AND, I don’t want B to not see me come full circle. She’s already been seeing some of my not-so-good habits. She’s made comments about my chubby belly…..OH dontcha just LOVE a kid’s honesty lol. She’s changed somewhat from being the kid who lived on fruit and veggies and good food to the kid who cries if she can’t have Kraft mac-n-cheese. Now, I’m totally that mom that wants to let her live a little and not make any foods seem like they are “bad” for her. But, we absolutely do need to find a happy medium in our house of her eating healthier. And, again, it starts with me.

So, this me is 193 on a good week and 199 on a bad week (yes, I’m only weighing in once….sometimes rarely twice a week now ~ YAY, that’s something in itself my friends!). I’m still squeezing into size 12s….whereas before when I was wearing 16s and pushing 18s. Now, I totally get that sizes could have evolved over these 7 years but I also know my body composition is still quite different than back in 2010….but I refuse to go buy new bigger clothes. #notgonnahappen My skin is terrible……I have worse acne now than I ever did in high school. I haven’t been able to get my wedding rings off for going on 2 weeks and talk about a suffocating feeling. I can’t wear any of my tall cute boots because I can’t zip them up past my thick calves. I’m not sleeping well at night and having a terrible time getting up early. My vision is often cloudy. I have serious brain fog and I swear ADHD. And, as I mentioned in a SUPER vulnerable blog post yesterday (you can read it HERE), I truly believe depression and anxiety can improve and be managed with proper nutrition and focusing on several keys things….most of which are totally free and have nothing to do with being medicated! I have a blog post I’m working on to share many things I’ve learned in the past year about overcoming depression and anxiety. It’s good stuff I tell ya! I even have test scores to prove it!

AND, SOOOOOOO, I’m going back to the unsexy things I know I need to do to turn the ship around. If you’re new here and haven’t heard me talk about “the unsexy” things, you can check out this post from a while back. But, basically, I got this from a book called the Compound Effect. If you haven’t read it, you TOTALLY should and as soon as possible lol! You can grab a copy or download it HERE! And, here are a few excerpts.

“This book is about success and what it really takes to earn it. It’s time someone told it to you straight. You’ve been bamboozled for too long. There is no magic bullet, secret formula, or quick fix. You don’t make $200,000 a year spending two hours a day on the Internet, lose 30 pounds in a week, rub 20 years off your face with a cream, fix your love life with a pill, or find lasting success with any other scheme that is too good to be true. It would be great if you could buy your success, fame, self-esteem, good relationships, and health and well-being in a nicely clamshelled package at the local Walmart. But that’s not how it works. … What this book is about, with all the unnecessary noise, fat, and fluff removed, is what really matters. What really works? What half-dozen basics, when focused on and mastered, constitute the operating system that can take you to any goal you desire and help you live the life you were meant to live? This book contains those half-dozen fundamentals; they comprise the operating system called the Compound Effect.”

“By the end of this book, or even before, I want you to know in your bones that your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting, and sometimes difficult. But as Jim Rohn would say, “What’s simple to do is also simple not to do.” The magic is not in the complexity of the task; the magic is in the doing of simple things repeatedly and long enough to ignite the miracle of the Compound Effect. Jim Rohn taught that we become the combined average of the five people we hang around the most. And, know that daily disciplines compounded over time. Know, too, that the results, the life, and the lifestyle of your dreams can be yours when you put the Compound Effect to work for you. If you use the principles outlined in the The Compound Effect, you will create your fairy-tale ending.” ~ Darren Hardy from The Compound Effect

So, yes, this part is where I got it from ~ “I want you to know in your bones that your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting, and sometimes difficult things.”

Working out at 5 a.m. 5 or 6 days of the week? Unsexy.
Ha, for some, working out at ANY time of the day? Unsexy.
Logging your food? Unsexy.
Meal planning? Unsexy.
Grocery shopping? Unsexy.
Saying no to pizza? Unsexy.
Not going out to lunch with coworkers? Unsexy.
Drinking water at happy hour with your friends? UNSEXY (if you’re me lol).
Checking in with a coach like me? Unsexy.
Committing to a goal that could take you a YEAR to accomplish? Unsexy.
Sharing with someone else you’re committing to said goal? Unsexy.

Most everything you’re gonna have to do to reach a goal is gonna be unsexy…..mundane….unexciting….and FOR SURE sometimes difficult. And, I’m by NO means just talking about a weight loss goal!

But, you know what isn’t unsexy, mundane, unexciting and difficult? The way you will feel after following through with what you said you wanted.

Stay tuned for my #unsexy health & fitness plans for the next 111 days!

And, Happy Valentine’s Day from B & me!

Gotta love new fun snap filters!!! #peaceandlove

Here we go!

11|22|2016

I finally started a new workout program today! I kinda feel like I’ve been talking about this for months 😉 but I did have a method to my madness on when I started lol! My tentative goal is to do 3 rounds of this program! So, I finish my first round JUST before Christmas!

This is actually unlike any program I’ve ever tried. And, I feel really badass! My first workout was a half hour of 6 rounds of MMA. I was dripping in sweat and the time flew by. As with anything, I felt uncoordinated and unsure of the punches and form but also as with anything, you just get better every day and the more you do each workout. And, I burned over 300 calories in that half hour ~ my heart rate was just as high and at one point higher than my running heart rate. Love. My. Fitbit Blaze! And, even though I’ve been told many times that gadgets like this just cannot be accurate and that only in a lab setting would you really know for sure how many calories you’re burning, I still love it. I use it as a guide of how hard I’m pushing and I don’t ever “eat” back my calorie-burn so again, it’s just a way to make sure I’m pushing myself. AND, I love the pedometer aspect it has!

My goal is early morning workouts but this week is kinda haywire AND after looking for our remote for the DVD player for like an hour, I was SUPER thankful for BOD (Beachbody on Demand) ~ you get all the programs you buy on DVD on your streaming membership as well. AND, there is over $5000 worth of workouts up there now regardless of whether you have the DVDs at home! It. Rocks. My. Socks. Off. PLUS, I can use it when traveling! I’ve used it to do my own workouts in hotel rooms & fitness rooms IN hotels before! It’s especially great for programs like CDF that don’t require any equipment!

And, after I finally got my first workout done, my sister texted to see if I wanted to try some squash shrimp bisque. Um. Yes. Please. It was DELISH! This isn’t the best pic but so so so good! I was honestly really hesitant the first time I ever tried squash soup but I absolutely loved it. And, since then, I’ve also made sweet potato and asparagus soups. Hearty and yummy and healthy!

So, yes, here we go with the sometimes unsexiness of doing a specific workout every day and tracking food on a new nutrition plan and getting my comfy butt out of bed when I’m really cozy on these cold & dark fall and soon to be winter mornings. It’s not always easy but it is always worth it! And, I’m loving the accountability groups I have going right now to keep me inspired and in the game!

Don’t try to change too much at once…..

11|15|2016

I’ve taken a lot of detours in the past few years. I’ve changed the course….changed the plan….more than a “few” times.

But, guess what? I’m still here…..finding my fight.

I often tell my clients that sometimes it’s better to focus on one thing at a time when starting a new journey. It’s okay to just focus on your nutrition to get started….or maybe just focus on exercise….and get really good at one (or at least on your way to really good) and THEN add the other. I think all too often we start out simply trying to change and do too much….and we’re left stressed and overwhelmed and we give up. I don’t wanna see anyone give up when they are just getting started.

Change takes time. Developing new habits takes time. And, maybe more importantly WANTING to change and develop new habits takes time.

So, I decided to take my own advice this week and keep focusing on my nutrition….only BETTER!

And, I decided not to start Core De Force until next Sunday or Monday in order to keep my focus on my eating. I’m on day two of the 3-day Refresh and am committing to 365 days of entering my nutrition into My Fitness Pal after I’m done.

Now…..

As many of you know, I STRUGGLE with my nutrition. I always have. I’ve been an emotional eater ~ yes, any emotion. I’ve been a binge eater. I’ve been a closet eater. I’ve overcome the last two since becoming a coach, and I can honestly say fitness is my jam now! But, what I’ve got to do right now is work really really hard on my emotional eating. I’ve been in a vicious cycle of emotional and stress eating…and then non-eating which is even worse…..for months now…maybe even a year or longer. I’ve had some really good stretches in there but not good enough for long enough.

I decided I needed to take it slower, do a little reset, AND commit to logging my food every day. And, to not try to change too much at once, I’m just hitting my running and Country Heat for the week while I do this….and get better at it. No more eat and log my food for 3 or 5 days and then stop. No more excuses for sneaking candy from boss’ office or B’s Halloween bag. I believe when you have goals like mine, logging your food is a MUST and tracking every little bit is a must! So, stay tuned as I put my macros into motion!! If we’re not already friends on MFP, here’s my profile! I’d love extra support on there as I go! dina_livefit

(And, yes, logging your food is very #unsexy ~ if you’re new here, Tuesdays were a day of the week that didn’t really have much of a theme to go with so I talk about all the unsexy things we do in the name of health and fitness and personal growth and entrepreneurship 🙂 )

So, to keep active this week, I headed out to finish week 5 of my running program last night. It was so nice out! I can’t believe it’s the middle of November! B had went for a drive with her dad and they found me for my last few stretches and she wanted to tag along. She maybe didn’t run the whole time but she had fun and we got a pic by the light of a streetlight! She’s a pretty cute and entertaining running buddy!

This was breakfast this morning. I’ll admit this time on the Refresh is kinda tough but I’m gonna make it through!
(It’s 3 days of all fruit, veggies, healthy fats, nutritional shakes and fiber drinks. I’ve done this many times and sometimes I’m just way more hungry than others…this is one of those times!! But maybe it’s mind over matter, too ~ so LOTS of water!)

And, I got to send out the first package to one of my new clients in the I Am That Girl group! I can’t wait to start this book with a great group of women! AND, speaking of changes ~ we are giving up one vice or bad habit a week during this challenge! Again, I don’t like to try change too many things at once. I’ve tried and failed at that one too many times. So, I’m giving up chewing my fingernails this first week! And, one of the girls posted an article about how horrible it is and let me tell you YUCKOLA.

So, the moral of the story is change can be unsexy and mundane in the day-to-day BUT totally doable and little by little over the course of 90 days….or 6 months….or a year?….can turn into something wonderful 🙂

The unsexy this week & #wcw!

09|8|2016

So, I got a little tough love from my coach Val last week.

It kinda sucked. But, it was totally the truth.

I’m honestly not even sure how we got to that moment but she helped me realize something I’ve been doing….for a while now….and something I need to STOP doing lol.

And, MAYYYYYYYYBE ya’ll have noticed it as well lol.

So, I do this thing where I slip up on my nutrition and then I think I need to go cold turkey without any cheats and treats and then I decide going cold turkey is just too hard and messes with my mind so I say I’m gonna allow myself one meal a week or one meal a month…..yadda yadda yadda….only to end up slipping up even a little MORE and to the point that then I feel like I’m failing and then I say I’m going to go cold turkey again.

So, you can be honest with me. Have you been following me for a while and have you noticed I do in fact do this???

Ha, ok, guilty as charged.

To give a little more back story on why it’s important for me not to do this any more, my truth is that I’ve tried a LOT of different things when it comes to nutrition. Some have been really good and some not so good.

Just a recap of the approaches I’ve tried:

WeightWatchers
South Beach
Fat Flush
Atkins
Things like Hydroxycut, SlimQuick or something like that, and a few other diet pills I can’t remember the name of.
SlimFast and Advocare shakes and a few others I can’t remember the name of.
21 Day Fix container system
Shakeology
IIFYM/flexible dieting
Whole 30
AND, I have several books on elimination diets (like the Whole 30) and a book by Natalie Jill and several books on PaleoAnd, now, just a recap of how some of those approached worked….or didn’t lol:
I was a WW member for more than 10 years, so that approach was never a short-term fix. The problem with how I did WW was that I used my Pts for not-so-good choices. I lived on Smart Ones and Lean Cuisines, 100-cal packs and Diet Coke (‘cuz diet pop was FREE! All you WWers out there know what I’m talking about with FREE food and drink lol). Now, I did in fact get down to my lowest weight in my adult life on WW, but it just wasn’t healthy the way I was doing it.
The problem with all my low to lower-carb approaches like South Beach and Atkins was that I KNEW deep-down I could never be low carb. I just wanted to drop weight fast and had seen other people around me do it, so I gave each of them a try back in the day. The thing is, I like carbs. 😉
I KNEW pills and shakes were never gonna truly help me in the long run. BUT, again, I saw other people “seemingly” have success losing weight with them, so I had to try, too. And, I wasted a TON of money on them and it scares me how they affected my body.
The Whole 30 and elimination approaches were in the hopes of fixing my stomach problems I dealt with earlier this year AND honestly to start the scale in the right direction after months of slowly gaining (I was eating a lot of comfort food for my stomach ~ soda crackers, pasta, soup, bread ~ and I wasn’t working out like I was used to). It was a hard time and a battle of just not feeling good. And, after who knows how many doctor appointments and blood tests and two ultrasounds and even a CT scan and STILL no answers, they diagnosed me with IBS and prescribed me another antibiotic but a really powerful, expensive one and within a few weeks, I was pretty much back to normal and now I’m happy to say as long as I don’t go crazy with bad choices, I’m virtually symptom-free! I tried those things based on a lot of research and some awesome people reaching out to me after reading my blog and trying to help me with things that had helped them. I do believe being gluten and dairy free can be a really good way to go for a lot of people. But, I also believe unless you absolutely HAVE to give up either of them, in moderation they are just fine.
I’ve tried IIFYM/flexible dieting a few times now and I got overwhelmed with the calculating and just not feeling like I’m doing it right. AND, I also reverted a little bit back to my old WW days in that I was purposely making JUNK fit….just because I could lol.
And, the containers and Shakeology have without a doubt been the healthiest approach I’ve ever taken and that which I’ve been the most consistent with. The ONLY problem with the containers for me is that when I eat something not on the food lists, I do that thing that I described above.

So, it would seem I’m stuck in this vicious cycle of going way too strict FOR ME, then saying it’s okay to cheat, and then taking it a little too far and deciding I need to go strict again lol.

I’m making a decision to stop that train. And, in the past several weeks, even before Val’s tough love talk lol, I had been looking back into flexible dieting and starting to track again. The containers are “easier” but I’m finding that because I’m so active and I’m about to become even more active with teaching Country Heat, I need an approach more tailored to my lifestyle and what fits for my activity and my goals. (And, I’ve talked about it before but the containers are actually kinda like “macros for dummies” ‘cuz they are macro-based and all you gotta do is fill them with the appropriate foods and not have to worry about weighing or calculating or counting!) But, more importantly, it’s unsexy and it’s a way to stop the cycle of strict and then not strict enough and then strict and then….well you get the drift. It allows me the freedom and flexibility of my coffee creamer (yes, still in moderation) and beers from time to time BUT still focuses primarily on whole foods.

And, why I share this is to be transparent about my approach in this season. I’m getting awesome results from Country Heat. But, the truth is my nutrition was totally #onpoint the first week and then little by little I started wavering….and I started beating myself up. I want to be honest with ya’ll when I struggle. And, maybe most importantly I want you to be okay with STRUGGLING too. It’s ok to struggle….we’re human. We all have to find the right thing for our goals and that fits our lifestyle. So, whatever that looks like for you is what’s important.

As I progress, I’m gonna be sharing the days where I wanna just eat cupcakes….and of course when I do in fact #eatallthecupcakes #justkidding #thatsnotreallyhowitworks #butagirlcandream. Ok, ha, I already do that part anyway but this is gonna be a kinda new but old approach to my nutrition and I’m excited about it. (Ha, although, I’m kinda afraid to say “I’m excited” ‘cuz that’s the thing that often gets me in trouble ~ I’ve been excited about a lot of things that looked like they would work and help me and things didn’t quite turn out that way lol. BUT, this…I can safely say and be excited about ‘cuz this is just another lifestyle approach!) And, I’m excited to share more about how flexible dieting works with all of you 🙂 Skinny Meg and a super cool chick who goes by Poppy Locks have been inspiring me for a long long time and I’ve learned a lot from them on how to do this!

And, it’s also gonna help me as I start focusing on my new goals! Getting ready to teach Country Heat Live, running another half marathon AND doing that fitness competition I decided to forego earlier this year!

This girl right here has been a huge inspiration to me in deciding to go after this again. I’m not sure I have it in me. I’m really not. But, she said something to me last week that made me wanna push again. We’d been chatting ‘cuz I wanted to give her a #wcw shout out….’cuz seriously she’s amazingly fit and so inspiring! She teaches Insanity Live! And, ROCKED the stage in Nashville this year and I was telling her last week that I’ve been considering committing to it again and she said to do it and that I was part of her inspiration to do it last year! It’s kinda funny how life works sometimes 🙂 I’m so happy me talking about it last year pushed her to do it!! AND, now to watch her go through the sacrifices and the hard times but to hear how amazing and happy she was that she did it meant everything. Her name is Stacy. She’s super chill, a teammate, a wife and a mom of 2. And, I’m really hoping to share more of her story soon but here’s a glimpse of what she’s done all with Beachbody products!!

Wow, right?!?! #amazeballs

And, so I will keep pushing! They say you will truly succeed when the pain of change is easier than the pain of staying the same. I set out on a goal last year at about this time and I didn’t make it. But, it’s ok. I knew I could decide to try again, and it’s that time to chase big dreams again. And, as always, I don’t mean just the dream of doing this competition…’cuz I can tell you the thought of that stage STILL FREAKS ME OUT. But, the thrill of the challenge and the thrill of the ride last year led me to some really amazing things. Even if I didn’t end up on that stage this summer, where the journey brought me was exactly where I needed to be.

So, as the song goes, “Here I go again on my own…..going down the only road I’ve ever known…” ~ except thanks to my coach, my team, my family and friends I’m never on my own….and for most of my life going down the only road I knew was detour after detour….so I’m blazing a new path this time and using an amazingly fun little workout called Country Heat to start it off.

On the left is the start of week 2, right start of week 3. I’m saving my before pics for the end 🙂
And, the scale was up a little over 2 lbs. this week. This would be the part where I say you can’t always judge success by the scale because I lost more inches even though I gained a little weight. This is exactly why I’m taking pics and measurements every week and why it’s important that if you’re on a fitness journey out there as well you are doing this too!!

And, ironically it’s day 23 today on my inspiration board and it says “ambitious goals make for outstanding achievements” ~ I would say this is fitting! STAY TUNED!

It’s another unsexy Tuesday!

08|17|2016

So, I was supposed to start Country Heat yesterday but I realized it meant having rest days on Sundays. I like having my rest days on Mondays or Fridays….So, I opted to wait and officially start today and have Mondays off! I have video calls and extra training for my coach stuff, so Mondays gets kinda busy 🙂 And, I have plenty of time for a half hour workout on Sundays 🙂

I did start the nutrition plan yesterday! And, it’s the same as the 21 Day Fix plan, so that’s really nice ‘cuz I’m very used to it! I just needed to use the little calculator in the Country Heat nutrition guide to figure out if I’m a Plan A, B, C or D and I figure out how many containers I can have a day and I’m good to go! I’m a Plan B and will soon move to the top end of Plan A. And, I love that I’m familiar with the foods lists! The best options are at the top of the list for each color-coded container. And, I definitely have my faves and my go-to’s! So, honestly, the hardest and unsexiest part for me is to just get back in the habit of actually tracking each and every little thing I eat. And, I’m also going to be journaling how I FEEL each day to recognize when things may be getting tough. Overall, I eat well during the week ~ I estimate 80/20….80% clean and 20% not-so-clean lol. But, it’s the bites of this and the tastes of that have clearly added up! And, my weekends haven’t been 80/20 for a while now 🙁 Plus, I’ve been enjoying a few adult beverages during the week and on weekends for the summer and time to cut that back for 30 days! Not only are they empty calories but my food choices are bad when I enjoy them lol! I haven’t decided for sure but I may give myself 1 or 2 treat meals and/or drinks in these 30 days. Part of me NEEDS and CRAVES just sticking to the program 100%….’cuz honestly it’s really not that hard and I KNOW it’s not that hard. But, the other part of me just feels like if I am TOO GOOD and don’t allow myself any treats at all (the plan totally allows for some treats….it’s just honestly where I can sometimes take that 😉 that I may set myself up for failure. So, this time around, I’m not deciding upfront. I’m just gonna do the best I can and see how the month plays out!

Day 1 was really good! I wasn’t tempted by all the chips and candy I saw at work today (ha, yes, I know…it’s only day 1)! My nutrition was #onpoint! I LOVED my workout! It was Country Swing and it was about a half hour and it flew by! I forgot to turn off my workout session right away but right around 300 calories for a half hour workout! I’ll take it! And, I was at 8140 for steps when I started and finished with 12,084!!! WAHOO! It really made me miss the certification class! AND, it really made me excited to practice practice practice and start group classes!! I think part of the reason I’m SO excited for this program is to bring it to more people! I’ve missed group fitness SO much!

So, here’s goes nothing! More of the unsexy things I will do in the name of achieving my health & fitness goals…..weight, measurements and before pics!

And, pics are never easy….BUT sharing them helps me stay accountable.

Measurements are also never easy to share….and unsexy…yes, very boring….to take. Blah blah blah. But, again, sharing them helps me stay accountable AND helps motivate me to kick. some. butt.

I would say I’m starting over but that’s not really how I look at this. Yes, I’m at one of the highest weights I’ve been….but I also feel the strongest I’ve ever felt. And, I honestly never gave up….I just lost some of my inspiration and determination ~ I made excuses ~ I got complacent ~ I let life get to me ~ and got a little too comfortable in my fun summer life. I’m over it now, tho. It was fun and it was hard at the same time. And, now I must get back to work.

And, as I’ve shared before, I’ve been working out all this time ~ definitely not to the intensity I would have liked with my foot and some other issues BUT my workouts are still not where I struggle. My eating and my relationship with food is where I struggle. But, where there is a struggle, there is also strength in overcoming. Time to overcome again.

So, YES, I’m very happy with my day 1! I’ll be straight up that the first 5 days of anything new are pretty tough for me. Day 1 always seems the easiest ~ days 2 thru 5 hard ~ and then I kinda settle in. I have to focus on all the wonderful food I will have vs. the things I’m choosing not to right now. And, I’m going to focus hard on my results….and more importantly WHY I want to achieve what I do (blog post coming about that)! If you keep the inspiration as to WHY you’re going after something, it’s a lot easier to….go after something lol.

I would love it if you follow and support me as I go over these next 30 days! I’m going to be going live daily from my health & fitness page on Facebook daily for extra accountability (you can click here and LIKE my page to get notifications when I go live 🙂 And, I’m starting more giveaways and fun things this month, so stay tuned there AND here!). I’m going to be doing weekly weigh-ins, pics and measurements! And, I kicked off a new private coaching group with 6 awesome ladies and I’m already looking to them for inspiration….because they help me more than they even know!

I have some BIG year-end goals to hit and I’m excited about some new things I’m going for in 2017 and will be sharing later! 40 lbs. gone by the end of the year ~ and honestly, if the scale doesn’t cooperate, that’s totally fine….let’s say a size 6 then….I’m in a 10-12…closer to 12 right now 🙂 So, that will work. Thanks for checking in and STAY TUNED 🙂

And, your bonus tonight is something that just happened and was SO cute I just had to share it! B and I were walking home tonight and I told her to say goodbye to her little friend, Sophie. Sophie was already on her bike headed home, so B yelled, “Bye Sophie ~ I love you!” Sophie yelled back, “Love you, too ~ see ya tomorrow!” How cute is that?!? #icanteven #littlegirlsaretoocute #buthandfuls #thatsSophieinthebackground 🙂

My Nashville hangover…..

08|2|2016

Hey, guess what day it is?! It’s Tuesday and it’s time to get back to doing the #unsexy.

I’m just getting back into the daily grind and have a Nashville hangover….and, I don’t mean from partying lol. Ok, I maybe partied a little….one night….but I digress. #justkeepinitreal #workhardplayhard

But, seriously…..you know what I’m talkin’ about….that hangover effect after an amazing experience or trip and you’re like….Ok, so now what?? Do I really have to go back to the normal grind??? Back to life….back to reality (ok, who’s singing the song….I know you were an 80s/90s soul child like me if you are and just so you know we can totally be friends!!) And, how do I DOOOOOOOO and BEEEEEEE all the things I wanna DO and BE like RIGHT NOW.

I spent most of Sunday traveling and sleeping (seriously, they say you can’t catch up on sleep. that’s legit.) and reflecting on the plane. I’m a TOTAL note taker and filled the better part of a notebook with tons of nuggets and ideas and I feel ready to FLY even higher. BUT, it’s also overwhelming. Like where do I start when there’s SO much I wanna do for my team and to help people and to work on my own health & fitness WHILE focusing first and foremost on God and my family?!?

How can I possibly do it all?

By staying true to myself ~ keep finding and staying in my truth ~ staying in my lane (i’m gonna talk more about this one ‘cuz this post would get too long if i did right now!) ~ by doing the UNSEXY ~ and focusing on the next 24 hours….that’s how. #TodayMatters

There were so many things I took away from Summit and I’m going to be sharing as much as I can with ya’ll ‘cuz I’ve said it before but what we take in at the event is always more about people and helping and supporting others than it is about selling a product or making money. It’s about how to become better leaders. It’s about how to inspire and how to stay inspired ourselves….’cuz straight up motivation doesn’t last. It’s about how to just be you. It’s about adding value to someone else’s day. It’s about giving. It’s about doing the things we don’t want to do so we can later live our lives by our own design. It’s about doing the unsexy, mundane, seemingly unimportant things every day, day after day, like getting up early instead of sleeping in….like eating egg whites and veggies for breakfast instead of the donuts tempting us in the break room….like spending a half hour working instead instead of watching TV…..like reading a personal improvement book instead of a romance novel so we can finally overcome our self-limiting beliefs

It’s about being a part of something bigger.

But, being able to do all that comes with sacrifice and discipline and as mentioned above, doing the unsexy things.

So, I’m slowly getting my BUTTOOSKY (here I go makin’ up words again) back in gear! I LOVED Nashville. I loved the foods (ha, when we had time to eat ~ i had a spicy tuna sushi burrito from a food bus called Funk Seoul Brother that was crazy good! and, a few Nashville locals waiting in line said it’s THE best food bus in town! if you’re ever there, highly recommend!). I loved the drinks (there were these classic margaritas at this taco joint…I believe it was called Tacos Sexto and if you’re ever in Nashville, it’s by Music City Center and the Omni Hotel….that were seriously legit! i think quite possibly the best margaritas i’ve ever had 🙂 ) And, I absolutely LOVED my Country Heat Live certification class and the other live workout I did but my knee and foot are telling me to take a few more days to rest. #imclearlynot20anymore #anyhoo So, in case you’re wondering, I’m jumping back into PiYo hopefully in the morning to finish my 2nd month, I’m dialing my nutrition back in and then I can’t WAIT to start Country Heat and follow the program to a tee! AND, I’m looking for 10 women to join me in a test group where we are gonna commit to LEGIT following it with #noexcuses! AND, I’ve extended an offer for a chance at a free kit (i got a FREE kit for getting certified and i wanna pay it forward!) to anyone who joins a private coaching group with me this month! I haven’t had so much FUN working out since Zumba and the results from the official corporate test group are pretty dang exciting!! I’d love to learn more about your goals and see if this would be a good fit! You can fill out this application with absolutely no obligation ~ it’s just a way for me to learn more about what you’re looking for, what your health & fitness goals maybe are and then help YOU decide if this is maybe something that sounds like something you should try!

I found this quote a while ago and it’s so inspiring to me. “If you want to fly, give you everything that weighs you down.” And, if you’ve been following me for a while, you know I don’t mean weight when I say that. If you do struggle with weight, it’s just a result of what’s really weighing you down. When you find it and give it up, THEN you can really learn how to fly….and, I would love to help you try to find it! I plug myself into things and learn and grow every day to learn how and it would be selfish of me to keep it all to myself! 😉 So, I seriously have to ask….what are YOU waiting for? Don’t wait as long as I did. And, if one of the things holding you back is the investment in yourself, think about this ~ what’s REALLY expensive is that thing that doesn’t work.

Peace out for a Tuesday!

What’s your UNSEXY for the day?
What mundane, unexciting, seemingly unimportant thing or things did YOU do today to get you closer to your goals?!?

And, your bonus today!

You may have been following me on IG or FB while I was in Nashville and know I used something called Lyft instead of cabs or the shuttle to get around. I’m seriously in love with this concept. It’s a bunch of people who are independent ambassadors/consultants who drive their own vehicles and act as taxi cab drivers. All you gotta have is a smart phone and download their app! It’s way less expensive. Every driver I had was super nice, friendly and helpful. Every driver comes with a driver rating that you can see before you choose them. You get text updates and the app itself tells you where they are and how soon they will be able to pick you up. You schedule your pickup on the app, they pick you up, and then at the end you pay via PayPal (at least I did ‘cuz that’s the easiest for me). AND, the best part is you can decide on a whim that you need a LYFT and I always had a driver within like 5 minutes. Now, that’s legit. It’s super similar to Uber ~ In fact I learned a few things and take these with a grain of salt ‘cuz I didn’t research myself to find out but one of my drivers was a founding ambassador for both Lyft and Uber and I don’t think he’d have a reason to lie since he still contracts with both and as far as I can tell doesn’t make more at Lyft than he does Uber. But, he said that there are a few differences between the two. Lyft does a more extensive background check of their drivers and their vehicles are inspected and put at a higher standard of year, make and model. If anyone knows otherwise, I’d love to know so I can post a retraction on that 🙂 Anyhoo, of course I’m not responsible if you try it and don’t have a good experience but I’m willing to take a risk to recommend it anyway for the next time you’re in a bigger city lol! OH, and on a side note ~ DUIs are down like CRAZY! AND, totally a side note….did you know between 80 to 100 people move to Nashville EVERY DAY?!? That’s crazy. I really wish I could sing.

Bringing Unsexy Back

07|20|2016

Ok, so this is gonna start out kinda random…..

but I feel sorry for Tuesdays.

Monday gets a bad rap but is also #motivationmonday so there’s that. Wednesday is hump day and wine day. Thursday is one day closer to Friday. Friday is….well FriYAY. Saturday….well, seriously probably the best day of the week for most, so enuf said. Sunday is…well, for me anyway…..a relatively and usually restful and peaceful day and a day to be inspired, spend more time with God and be hopeful and get ready to kick butt in a new week ahead.

BUT, TUESDAY?!? What does Tuesday have on the other days? Hmmmmm, I can’t really think of much that stand outs that people talk about. Well, maybe #transformationtuesday but apparently that’s not as powerful a thing for most people lol. (My hubby for one…he would have no idea what transformation Tuesday even means.)

So, I decided I wanted to spice up our Tuesday with a new series, #unsexytuesday. (Ha, it’s got quite the ring to it, right?!?! Yeah, not so much….so if anyone comes up with a better hashtag I can use, drop me a comment!!! lol) Why?!? ‘Cuz EVERY day matters! Every day you choose to do the unsexy matters….stay with me here 😉

I have the #realtalk series ~ and I have more “series” in the works…and really the unsexy series will be QUITE similar to REAL TALK….’cuz….well….the title speaks for itself.

What’s the unsexy? According to Google, it partially means “not exciting.” So, the unsexy in the context of this new series I wanna write about is about doing the things you don’t really wanna to do in order to achieve all your goals and finding a way to let go of the things that don’t serve you any longer, if they ever did.

For example, the sexy for me would be eating popcorn with real butter followed by a few cupcakes, while watching Nashville or the Bachelor on Hulu. Sexy for me would be reading Gone Girl. UNSEXY for me is eating turkey sweet potato burgers and a strawberry broccoli salad leftover from last night, while listening to a podcast on becoming a better leader. UNSEXY for me would be reading 15 Laws of Invaluable Growth by John Maxwell. Now, obviously the UNSEXY things are not terrible at all. And, honestly, the more I do the unsexy, the more comfort and peace I find!

So, yes, It’s about doing the mundane, seemingly unimportant things day-in-&-day-out that lead to big things. Things like losing 50 lbs. You don’t do it overnight. You make mundane, unsexy choices like eating turkey burgers and broccoli every day for days and days and days in order to do it (okay not EVERY day but you get my point). Things like saving $5000 dollars. You don’t do it overnight ~ unless you’re really wealthy OR win the lottery or something. You make mundane, unsexy choices every day to not spend beyond your means for days and days and days in order to do it. Things like going back to school for a degree. You don’t do it overnight. You make mundane, unsexy choices to study and research and learn for days and days and days in order to do it. Things like working for that promotion at work. You don’t get it overnight. You get it by doing a series of mundance, unsexy things for other people for days and days and days in order to get it. Bottom line: The unsexy things are the things that make you uncomfortable at first but that result in big rewards and start to become second-nature.

I first talked about my unsexy over a year ago. I’m gonna go off for a little bit here but I’ll bring you back 🙂 You can read about it HERE. And, I’ve thought a LOT about it since. One of the funnest (I always wonder if I should use a word like funnest…it’s not really a word and I’m supposed to be a writer….but that’s my writing style…using things I like to make into words “‘cuz” they fit my personality “lol”) things about blogging is to look back to something I wrote a year ago. To remember how I felt at the time. To look at how much B has grown. To remind myself of how far I’ve come.

The post was over a year ago (seriously, just go read it and then come back). It was the beginning of a really hard year for me. It was a year that I seriously wish I could just have a time machine and travel back and do just about EVERYTHING differently.

But, while life is about second chances, life is also about letting go and forgiveness and learning to move on from mistakes and guilt and weakness and loss. It’s taken me months to really believe this but there are things that happen in our lives and choices we make that will forever change us and those around us. But, the silver lining is, often the hardest things we go through, whether we choose them or not, are what mold us into stronger versions of ourselves.

My unsexy truth is that I often ~~forgot about~~ chose not to DO the unsexy things this past year to honor my goals and my dreams and the people who are most important to me….not ironically, the very things I talked about in that post. And, believe me it makes me cry. My counselor has told me on more than one occasion that I’m pretty hard on myself. I’m hard on myself to a fault and it often paralyzes me, so I have to work really hard at overcoming. If you can guess where this is going, I was pretty hard on myself last year. And, when I do that, I retreat. I withdraw from everyone, especially those closest to me. I make poor decisions. I lose some of my Faith. I stop doing some of the things I really enjoy. There was a lot of everything. Pain. Regret. Loss. Sadness. Depression. Self-doubt. Guilt. Food starting to become a coping mechanism again. Spending starting to become a coping mechanism again. I got lost in periods of instant gratification….in failed attempts to feel better. And, then the guilt would just snowball. And, after having come so far the year before, it was so confusing to me what was happening. How was it seemingly so easy to start self-sabotaging myself again??…and in some instances to extremes. To say I’m not proud of this time in my life is a drastic understatement. And, yet, while I somewhat recognized it, I didn’t know how to fully change it. Now, don’t get me wrong…there were bright moments and a lot of wonderful memories and periods of time when I rocked my goals and was present and I am so blessed for the family and friends I have who try their best to understand and be there for me even when I’m not there for them…..there is always a silver lining to the struggle and I’m trying my best to right the wrongs. But, I was perpetually taking 2 steps forward and 3 back. Until, finally, I knew I had to make a decision to keep going down the path I was OR I could get back track. Because you know what? I was SERIOUSLY uncomfortable most of the time. I was happy and inspired when I was writing and I look back at blog posts and I KNOW I was confident behind them because reading them even now I know my words were heart-felt and true! But, my passion and inspiration would quickly fade and I would lose sight of it all.

So, while doing the unsexy is uncomfortable, my self-sabotage was a heck of a lot MORE uncomfortable.

This quote maybe only relates to weight BUT you can turn it into anything in life ~ you choose your hard every dang day.

And, so, I decided to start choosing unsexy again instead of self-sabotage for my comfort level and I took action to move on and move forward.

I know I will fall back sometimes…..that’s just a little thing we call life.

But, if I fall down 7 times, I will get up 8.

I’m choosing my hard. And, I’m choosing it every. dang. day. ‘cuz that’s what it takes to stay in the game.

What’s my new unsexy focus you ask?!? My first 5 things….

1. I started meal planning again! I had told myself I didn’t enjoy it AND I didn’t like to cook….but that wasn’t true! And, these past few weeks of being back in that game, I remember that I DO like it! It’s like a game to meal plan ~ I actually like to have my week figured out ~ and while I don’t like to take a TON of time in the kitchen, I do enjoy cooking! I had even TOTALLY let B’s nutrition slide. I wanna let her be a kid and not be too limiting to her for fear of her turning that into what I did and start HIDING food. We have so many fears for our kids….my behaviors with food being carried down to her is one of my biggest. It may seem trivial to you but for something that has consumed so much of my life, I know I want no part of that for her life.

2. I started a fitness and nutrition journal! I had been journaling BUT I hadn’t really been talking to myself about my health & fitness goals, how I was feeling every day, how I was actually going to accomplish everything I set out to! I’ve barely started this and I’m wondering to myself WHY oh WHY wasn’t I doing this since day 1 as a coach?!? I HIGHLY recommend getting a fitness journal or if nothing else, use an online tracker to track your workouts and your nutrition! Something like MyFitnessPal (my fave!)

3. I told my coach about my goals and I committed to 3….ha, yes, 3….different challenge groups ~ 2 that I’m hosting and 1 I’m just sitting back and participating in like a new challenger! I need lots of accountability and inspiration to keep this momentum going and these are my go-to places for both. (If you’ve read the 10X Rule, I’m all about 10 x’ing what I do.)

4. I downloaded a new 60-day devotional on my Kindle. My last devotional was A Confident Heart ~ so so good! Highly recommend! And, my new one is a Lysa Terkeurst Made to Crave one. I LOVE her and her books and everything Proverbs31!

5. And, I took new before pics. I just took some a few weeks ago and shared but to be straight up, I had a tank top on to try to hide. I’m not interested in hiding or retreating anymore.

And, today was day 24 of PiYo, so I’m almost halfway thru this round of PiYo! It’s going really well! I will say I miss running and my weights and REALLY miss Hammer & Chisel right now but I committed to this program, so I’m gonna see it through. And, I was going to try fit some interval running in a few times a week but my foot just isn’t ready. (btw is anyone singing a little JT in their head right now?!?)

I challenge you to really think about the unsexy things you can do to start knocking out your goals 1 by 1 ~ IF you’re not already of course! You DO have the POWER. You can take your POWER back. Today is all that matters.

And, your bonus for the day 🙂 I love Proverbs31 & the First5 app! Check it out if you’re looking for daily inspiration 🙂
AND, remember, the only time you should look back is to see how far you’ve come and have the confidence to keep moving forward.