Progress!

This last week was pretty decent. I didn't lose any weight but I'm not upset. Instead, I worked out and figured out where to make my tweaks. I discovered a delicious and easy breakfast, I signed up for a 90-day fitness challenge, and I'm thinking about getting some fitness certifications! 

The tweaks: I've realized that my active recovery days need to be one or the other. A longer walk with Pilates or yoga was just as much as a run and weights. So I know now that I need to choose one or the other. I also realized (again) the importance of eating a small meal about 20-30 minutes before a workout and having recovery nutrients. Shakeology has an abundance of nutrients that pack quite the punch. This is my new go-to post-workout treat! 

I had seen all over Pinterest and other health sites about overnight oats. I made my own last night and was not disappointed! It's quite simple: take 1/2 cup of oats and 1/2 cup of milk and store it in the fridge overnight. Of course, add your favorite fruits and seasoning to it. I used strawberries, banana, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and brown sugar. I also used almond milk instead of regular milk. Give it a try! The cold oats is surprisingly delicious. 

My friend, Heather, is a BeachBody coach and has put together a 90-day fitness challenge that I'm going to participate in. I'm very excited to see where this challenge takes me and see how far I can push my limits. Stay tuned for my "before" post with pics and measurements and check back regularly to track my progress! 

Finally, my BeachBody coach/friend is getting herself PiYo certified in September and asked me to join her! I think I'm going to do it! Her invitation really got me thinking about what other fitness certifications I'd like to pursue. I've always had a passion for personal training and yoga, so I think I'm going to pursue those certifications as well. It will be a slow process, but one that will benefit everyone in the long run. I'm very excited to give it a go!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! My daughter is in Chicago until Wednesday with her grandparents so my husband and I are going to be spending A LOT of time cleaning our house. I feel new paint in my future and my daughter's room being purged like nobody's business. Whatever you decide to do this week, remember to keep yourself accountable  and to do your best! Happy Monday! 

Good Pain?

As I said earlier, our word for the week is "accountability." This accountability comes in several forms for me this week: counting every calorie that I consume, not overextending myself, maintaining my workout schedule, and making sure I am getting enough sleep. 

Well, it's Thursday. How am I doing so far? Pretty good but I could do better. My biggest obstacle right now is sleep. Working at 3:00AM makes it very hard to get quality sleep. I laid down at 8:30 last night but woke up for about 90 minutes and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm rocking a solid four hours of sleep. Everything else is smooth sailing. I missed my Pilates "active recovery" and replaced it with a five mile walk. This was also because I missed my two mile run before boot camp on Monday (which wasn't necessarily a bad thing because boot camp kicked my butt!). 

Yesterday was my 2-mile run and kettlebell workout with my workout buddy, Amber. We felt ballsy and did a tour de (very small high school) stadium. They say big things come in small packages, and it does!! After doing a few rounds of the stands and the kettlebells, I could only muster a mile and a half. I'm not upset though because the overall workout was fantastic! We had fun working those stairs up, down, and up again. The kettlebells were killer, as usual! It was all-around a awesome. 

It's Thursday, friends. It's time to finish the week strong and to maintain that accountability! Keep up the great work and I'll check in on Sunday! 

My workout:

-half mile warmup walk

-round of kettlebells

-half mile run

-round of kettlebells

-half mile run

-round of kettlebells

-half mile cool down walk 

#Accountability

Accountability is one of those changes that I've been slacking on recently. I feel that this is definitely one reason that I have gained weight. Instead of planning my meals and sticking to my scheduled workouts, I ate whatever and made excuses. I promised myself that I would remain accountable here on out and make sure I was planning and scheduling and taking time for myself. 

The results have already been great. I lost a total of four pounds this week! That's a pretty great weight loss. I did it by holding myself accountable. I logged every single calorie I ate without changing the core of my diet. I've told myself that it's going to be small changes over time and not many major changes immediately. That stresses me out and throws me off the proverbial wagon kicking, screaming, and binge eating. 

Along with my mindset of accountability, I've scheduled all of my workouts this week. At first, it looked like a lot but if you really think about it, I'm not doing too much too soon or too fast. Aside from that, I have two active rest days built in. Like my doctor said, "Workout every. Single. Day." Here's my plan for the week:

Sunday: 5 mile walk @ 20" pace

Monday: 2 mile run @ 13" pace and 45 minutes boot camp 

Tuesday: 30 minutes Pilates and 3 mile walk @ 20" pace

Wednesday: 2 mile run @ 13" pace and 30 minutes kettle bells 

Thursday: 30 minutes Yoga and 3 mile walk @ 20" pace

Friday: 2 mile run @ 13" pace and 30 minutes kettle bells 

Saturday: 2 mile run @ 13" pace and 30 minutes of kettle bells

A lot of running and walking, right?! That's because I cancelled my gym membership. Kansas is GORGEOUS in the summertime and runs and walks at certain times make for a great workout!  I've got a great Pilates bar and a yoga video that I love doing. Top that off with some different kettle bell routines and a 10-pound kettle bell, and my "gym" membership went from $80/month to $3 a week (for the boot camp class)! The good news is I also have a treadmill, elliptical, and weight bench for inside workouts when it gets cold out. :) 

The word this week for me is accountability. Let's see where this planning and accountability get me. I already had a GREAT walk this morning! We made a pit stop at my in-laws' house (my kiddo needed a water break), but here's my #accountability already for the day: My walk. Have a great week, friends, and stay accountable! 

Tips and Tricks To Start A Healthier Lifestyle

After yesterday's epiphany, I started fresh. Yesterday was pretty incredible. I had a new outlook which may have been the same outlook I had two and a half years ago when I began losing my weight and before I became complacent and gained it all back. Thinking about my meals and planning them and planning my workouts for the week got me thinking about what I had done in the past that had made me successful. Thinking on that, I have some ideas that I'd like to share that I know everyone would benefit from. Everyone from a seasoned health nut to someone just beginning.

Move Every Day. My doctor actually told me "work out every single day" and there's some stock to that. I was moving every single day. That doesn't mean a grueling workout every single day though; you have to have an active recovery day that gives you a light workout and still gives you the calorie burn that you need for continued success. My favorite active recoveries are Yoga and Pilates.

If you run or walk, take a gorgeous path. Taking a beautiful walking or running path will help you appreciate what is around you and will inspire you to move more and could even help your pace! The anticipation of seeing that view that you love or knowing that you will be back to your starting point soon will motivate you that much more to move.

Plan your meals. I cannot say this enough: Meal planning is crucial to successful and sustainable weight loss! Count your calories and make sure you are not "eyeballing" your portions. Instead, grab a food scale so you can weigh out your portions. Using a food and exercise tracker app (such as Lose It!, my favorite with my Jawbone UP) keeps track of what you eat and your calories burned, which can aid your success.

With that said, make sure you're eating enough calories. My friend, Heather, who is a BeachBody coach and a personal trainer has beat into my head time and time again that the magic caloric number for weight loss is 1200 calories NET for most women. This means that if you burn 300 calories working out, you need to consume 1500 calories. Eating less than a net total of 1200 calories can cause your body to go into survival mode and to hold onto what little calories you're consuming. Not to mention people who consume less than 1200 are typically moodier because they're hungry (or, as Tina Fey said in her American Express commercial: "hangry"). You also need to ensure that you're treating yourself reasonably. That doesn't necessarily mean to eat that slice of cake. My favorite snack right now are French Macarons. They are small and low-calorie so there is no guilt if I eat one or - gasp! - two! You can also treat yourself with a cute outfit or a mani/pedi! Rewards don't have to be consumable.

Don't stretch yourself too thin. This is something that I've had issues with recently. Taking on a full time school work load, working 40+ hours a week, and still being a wife and mom, I gave myself excuses to not fit in fitness and health. Paring back on some things that can take a backseat will help you stress less and give you more time to focus on yourself, which is totally okay.

Hold yourself accountable. This is something that I wasn't doing recently, either. Accountability is HUGE. Accountability means scheduling your workouts in, planning your meals, eating at certain times, drinking your water, and tracking your weight loss. All of these accountability strategies go a long way into living a healthier lifestyle.

Finally, DO THIS FOR YOU AND NOBODY ELSE! Say it with me: I am worth it! You are worth it. Making healthy choices in your life has far-reaching effects. For me, it was anxiety and sleep. When I was working out and eating right, my anxiety went to ZERO and I slept like a baby and rarely woke up at night. There may be some stressors in your life that you will see vanish or decrease with integrating into a healthier lifestyle. When you actually take time to do something for yourself, that's when you will see the changes and the success!

This seems like a lot, but I ensure you that it's not. These are steps and small changes that we can all afford to make every day in our lives. These are changes that we should make. We only get one chance at life (unless you believe in reincarnation, for which you can't remember your past life anyway) so why not live it as long and as healthy as possible?

Everybody Stumbles Sometimes

I have had quite a journey when it comes to fitness. This morning, while out on a "wog" (where I alternate between jogging and walking) I really thought about this. This included my health goals and the kind of role model I'd like to be for my family.

Two years ago, I weighed my lightest: 137 pounds. I was a healthy 137, too. I ran every morning, lifted light weights at the gym 2 or 3 days a week, and stayed within a moderate calorie range. Six months prior, I was 165 pounds. I had been pretty inactive and had been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Although losing weight didn't make the high blood pressure go away (only medicine can keep it under control), I was at my healthiest.

Fast forward to today: 167 pounds. Double chin, puffy face, people asking me how far along I am. Yes, I fell off of the wagon. What happened in these last two years? Well, life happened. Life happened and it came full circle and made me realize some changes that I need to make starting NOW.

Back then, I was working a job that I enjoyed. I didn't LOVE it by any stretch of the imagination. I was working at a retail store for a wireless company. I worked the same hours every week: Tuesday through Saturday, 9:45AM-7:15PM. My work schedule was conducive to wake up at 6:30, get ready for a work out, prep my food for the day, and get my daughter to school by 8:00. The gym was on the way home from school so I just stopped there a few days a week, got on the elliptical and lifted some weights, or came home and enjoyed a nice RUN (not "wog") before coming home, showering, dressing, grabbing my food, and running out the door. It was easy and brainless. Seriously. I could do my daily schedule in my sleep.

I started gaining my weight back when I started working from home. With my refrigerator ten steps away from me, it was easy to forgo the meal planning. Then I started working INSANE hours. My work schedule now is 3AM-2PM, four days a week. On my days off, I usually am sleeping in because my body is desperate for sleep. Then, I started taking a full-time course load at the local community college. My clothes became tighter. I felt gross. I stopped moving because I felt gross. I stopped dressing cute because I felt gross. I felt guilty because I felt gross. I mean, I just didn't feel like ME anymore.

Everything hit a peak a few weeks back. I was visiting my doctor for my blood pressure checkup. She told me, "Summer, you're going to either have to lose some weight or I'm going to have to increase your blood pressure medicine." She didn't say it in a demeaning manner, but the weight of those words were as heavy as the 30 pounds that I've packed on.

Back to this morning during my "wog." I was enjoying the gorgeous view of the Missouri River on the River Walk maintained by the city. It was incredible. Something clicked in me. This right here is exactly why I started running. Not for my daughter or my husband or my health (although those were great benefits). No, it was because it was for ME. Those thirty little minutes every day that I spend on myself has a ripple effect that caused a huge change in my body, my mood, and my outlook.

I'm going to hold myself accountable. I'm going to make sure I get back into my running habit. I'm going to make sure that I'm planning my meals every day. I'm going to make sure that I am not stretching myself thin anymore. Sadly, that means that school is going to have to go on the back burner for a while. Even though I want my education degree more than anything, it's going to have to be at a slower pace. After spending this morning moving and remembering what my body is capable of, I know it's in my best interest to SLOW DOWN in some areas of my life and move forward in other areas. That also includes this blog. Sharing my thoughts and ideas and goals with everyone really helped me stay accountable. With that said, you'll be seeing more of me in a more consistent manner. :)

Have a wonderful week, friends! I hope that you find inspiration somewhere. This was the inspiration that I found this morning. Whoever said that Kansas was flat and boring is WRONG! It's vibrant, bright, and gorgeous, just like you!