Success.. and How I make it Reality!

This journey for me has been a year long so far... I haven't lost a lot of weight ( 16-18 lbs at this point) however I have transformed my body entirely.. From the shape to the fitness! I have lost 16 plus inches on my body, dropped 2 dress sizes and went from not running to being able to complete 5 kms within 40 minutes. ( not fast but COMPLETED!)

I found that tracking my food, first off in a binder than using the www.myfitnesspal.com site has been one of my sources of success...I spend 30 minutes or so on Sunday's making up my "Success Binder" menus for the week. This allows me to truly spend 30 minutes on myself and my family allowing us all to have proper nutrition. It also let's me see what my general intake should be, so if I have a bad day or busy at work day, I generally know what I NEED to fuel my body with.
I have noticed that when I do not plan my menus... I gain weight back and I feel generally like crap. This is a mind set problem.. just because I do not plan my menu doesn't mean the calories I put in my body aren't accounted for and I must be more aware of the amount I am eating.

I also enjoy having a on the go energy and protein packed snack! I found these bad boys through a friend on twitter and have been a fan ever since! In fact, I am such a fan the company made me a Brand Ambassador. So hit me up if you want to get some deals, or samples! These 100% all natural, vegan and organic bits of algae have allowed me to cut back on caffeine, they increase my energy and production in life generally and are a GREAT fuel at the gym!.
www.energybits.com

This is a photo of one of the meals I had this week. It was delicious!

I have never eaten nor cooked kale before, however I found a recipe on pintrest to stir fry up veggies, kale and cooked rice. I added some chili paste and it was amazing! I also get sick of bland boring chicken, so have been cooking it with chunky salsa and adding a little bit of cheese on the top prior to taking it out of the oven. AMAZING!

Pintrest is a wonderful way to keep food fresh, there are TONS of recipes and often you can search "Low sodium" or "low in fat" recipes as well and get numerous ideas. Keeping whats in my menu fresh with some old favorites also allows for success!

The other portion of my success... Keeping it fresh at the gym! I love my weight work outs! But if I decide one day that power cleans just aren't my thing... or I could careless to box jump Ill switch an exercise out from another work out and replace this one. I always make sure to complete all my work outs in a week but sometimes mixing it up is the key!


I also enjoy "treating" myself.. and this usually means new workout clothes! I am getting ready for spring running training and wanted to make sure I had some new duds.. It makes you feel fresh and ready for your activity. I don't like wearing sloppy clothes to the gym... you have mirrors everywhere!! This is the time to watch yourself exercise and see how your body has changed!

I have found that JC Penney and the GAP have wonderful and affordable workout attire, and JC Penney has wonderful sales right now!!

So my success is simply made... like it all should be! Being able to have simple workouts, simple menus and simple treats allow me to continue on. These are things I do not have to stress about.. now I can spend my time on telling myself I am doing awesome and to keep on!


We are all our worst enemy.. so eliminate the things that stress you.. make it easy and focus on changing your negative " I cant do this its to hard" thoughts! This change takes time.. wont happen over night nor over a week. Allow that!



Cheers!

Motivation.. Lacking and Surpassing!

On this briskly cold morning I sit back with my coffee reflecting on my progress. I have had a lack of motivation the last two weeks after my travel and am working quite hard at pulling myself back up this week into the forward motion. Thankfully, I was aware enough of my body and self that when I started to feel like sleeping was way more important than proper eating I started to talk about my lack of motivation. I re framed my thinking, gave myself permission to taking that time off and noted that it is ok to eat how you want sometimes as long as its sometimes!

I was at the gym on Tuesday afternoon and have been noticing a lot more "beef cakes" in the gym at the time I frequent. This can be ok.. but usually tends to be a pain because they often are using EVERY machine and weight in the area. I go to a YMCA so there is alot of room however I don't have friends that I work out with. I enjoy that though... Gym time is ME time not time to chit chat or gossip. But time to sweat, push and get myself going! I am starting to bench over 75 lbs and am concerned I didn't have a spotter and would hurt myself. Its a great joy to see how much weight one can press... especially if theres a man close by who cant do the same!!! I was tipped off to use a assisted squat rack to do my bench press too.. well hell what a grand idea!! So I moved quickly through my warm up and foam rolling when I saw the "beef cakes" so I could grab that machine!
Set myself up with 75 lbs on my press and my 35 lb dumbbells for my row super set. WOOT! 75 lbs that's easy! I love it!!! I love love how I see the change every time I am at the gym.. So I put on another few plates to get myself benching 80 lbs. Thank goodness for the assisted squat rack that's a tad heavy! But pushed through it! I increased all my weight this work out and got through my box jumps with ease. Still not ready to get the box height higher than 10" yet but I'm getting there!



Goals for the next few months

- Bench press 90 lbs by December 1st
- Squat 125 lbs by January 1st/13
- Run 7 kms by January 1st/12
- Get my 5 km run under 40:00 mins



Time and time again.. pushing through the first work out after a few weeks of down time is the HARDEST thing to do.. But as you can see above... The progress continues and proves to you that you have worked hard the past few months and its worth the continue!

Every day I see the following quote on my computer screen and it continues to stand true.

" It is not EASY, but its worth it. Now repeat that every day"


Also, find some blogs that inspire you. Here are a few of my favorites:

http://www.300poundsandrunning.com
http://www.sherylyvette.com/
www.rebirthfitness.co


Please take a look and follow! Wonderful people on a quest for health and fitness!