A Little Change Can Go A Long Way

This week was good and not so good. Good because I had another little epiphany about dieting and because I lost a pound and a half. Not so good because even though I lost a pound and a half and had a little epiphany, it took me an entire week to reach that epiphany. Like, literally, this epiphany occurred this morning. 

Last week I became a BeachBody Coach. I'm super excited to get started with using Shakeology and the corresponding PiYo workouts. I've been doing great with the Shakeology! I am drinking the tropical strawberry vegan. It's all that they claim it to be: it is tasty, it's easy to make, and it really does satiate my cravings. I mix in a banana, a cup of light almond milk, and a few ice cubes. It's a great post-workout drink/snack/meal (I say meal because it really fills me up. If I workout in the evening, it keeps me full until bedtime, so I will usually skip dinner.)

The workouts.... I haven't tried them yet. My BeachBody Coach, Heather, lives by all of Chalene Johnson's workout videos. Heather's progress has been extraordinary!! She's nine months post-baby and she's the smallest, fittest, and healthiest she's ever been! She teaches a wicked boot camp class on Monday nights and they are intense! My goal for this week is to do the PiYo workouts daily along with my regular walks and runs. 

That brings me to my little epiphany. The BeachBody plans really give you a thorough no-brainer approach to food, diet, and exercise. This whole time I've been preaching to myself "less is more." That's not the case: More is MORE!! More food, more calories, more exercise, more sleep. It seems impossible, but it's not. I'm not saying you need to workout for hours a day; quite the opposite. Just do something every day. Even if it's a little walk with your girlfriends on your active rest day: do something. 

The PiYo diet gives you a no-brain approach to food. You figure your caloric range based upon an equation (your weight x 11 - 200 = your calories) and gives you the food "limits" for those calories. I put limits in quotation marks because it's so much food. For example, I was 168.5 pounds. My caloric range is 1653. I had been limiting myself to 1200 calories, 1400 when I worked out. Oh my goodness, was I hungry! Not anymore! The PiYo diet plan gives me what I need to eat. In my case, it's 6 servings of primary veggies, 2 servings of secondary veggies/grains (I typically choose the grains), 3 servings of fresh fruit, 4 servings of healthy fats, and 6 servings of protein. The take-along booklet tells you exactly what is what and the measurements for the servings. NO. BRAINER. I find it hard most days to get all of my servings in because it's all so satisfying and filling. Best of all, I'm eating cleaner than I've ever been eating. 

Want to learn more about BeachBody and all of the fantastic programs that we offer? Visit me at www.teambeachbody.com/summerbuis. You won't be disappointed. 

At any rate, the hiccups of the week have led me to a 1.5 pound weight loss. I have a pretty ambitious goal of losing 2-5 pounds a week until I reach my goal. I used to think that it would be nearly impossible because I was always so hungry and it would just destroy my progress. By evening I'd usually cave and polish off a box of Girl Scout cookies (yes, we still have those in out house. Ack!!). I still will reward myself, but with a sweet and tasty Shakeology drink or with a banana with peanut butter or Nutella. Better choices, better results. 

If I stay on task and focus on my goals, this upcoming week should prove nothing but successful. I'll keep you all updated and posted on my progress! 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I've already done my 2.5 mile run for the day and plan on doing day one of my PiYo workout this afternoon. Remember that it's about balance. Workout, eat right, and sleep! 

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?

July 24, 2012

What a day! Yesterday was a great cardio and abs day. As usual, I did my cycling class for my cardio. It was excellent. The cycling instructor did a new routine, which was more than welcome as she had done the same routine for six weeks (Group Ride format)! My heart got pumping, I was sweating like a crazy person, and I was begging for her to ease up on us. She never did and that makes me happy! :)

After cardio was done, I came home and did my ab workout. I decided to change it up because the two exercises at the gym was getting a little boring. I used the Nike Training Club app and I really felt the burn! I've included the 15 minute ab burner workout that I did. It shows the exercises to the recover stage. The idea is to do the exercises continuously- no rest- until your recovery period. You will repeat the circuit two more times for a total of three times. It was intense and much needed. My abs still hurt more than 24 hours later. I enjoyed feeling the burn deep down in my abs!

Today was my back and traps day. It was equally as intense! I can't wait to check-in tomorrow and share my workout and supper for tonight. I've included a shot of calories burned, dinner, and the Nike Training Club workout. I hope you guys give it a try on your next ab day. It's guaranteed to be tough and worthwhile. 

July 23, 2013

Planning in life is really important. I feel like I sometimes spend too much of my life organizing my life and other times I feel like I am frazzled and can't stay organized to save my life.  The good thing staying organized though is when I have a specific time set aside for things then I save time because I know when I'm supposed to be somewhere. This goes so much further than work, school, and Chloe's activities. I take time to schedule my health and fitness. My workout is usually the only time of the day that I have for myself and I cherish that time to myself. So I make sure I schedule everything and I don't compromise. If I have to schedule an appointment somewhere (doctor, school, etc) I schedule around my fitness. There's no need to skimp on your health. That should take center stage. I really feel that making my health a priority makes me a better employee, student, wife, and mother. I'm setting an example for my daughter on taking time to be healthy. My health helps me with being active and alert for work and school. I'll be able to be a wife longer because I focus on my health.

Health isn't only physical fitness. You should also take time for mental fitness: Reading, writing, and learning are as important for your mental health as exercise is for your physical health. One thing that I love to do to make my brain really work (and something that I had stopped doing for a long time until last week) is to play a game of chess. It requires thinking and strategizing. And, if we're being honest, it's one of the only things that I can beat my husband at! I'm teaching Chloe how to play chess, and Joe had never learned how to play until I taught him last week. It's so much fun connecting with my family this way, and something that we will be able to play together and share for years to come.

Yesterday was a good workout day. Yesterday was chest and shoulders, my crunches, and 40 minutes of cardio. I felt amazing after my workout. As always, my chest, shoulders, and abs were burning! I'm excited to get my workouts in for the week- mental and physical.

For my accountability report, I've included my calories burned during yesterday's workout, my calendar for you to see where I work in my workouts, and my new chess set that my fantastic husband picked up for me (for $8.00 no less!). Have a fantastic Tuesday, everyone! I look forward to sharing my change up in abs exercises with you tomorrow.

July 22, 2013

Happy Monday, friends!! July is quickly coming to a close. I can't believe it will be August by this time next week. Since the dog days of summer are coming to a close, I like to look forward to what's going to happen this fall. 

Fall for me means a lot of things. The turning of the leaves, milder weather, both my daughter and myself starting school, and the chance to take my workouts outside. I'm currently researching workouts that I can do outdoors that use my own body as weights yet are as interesting as my workouts at the gym. I look forward to it. I think the milder weather will be more than welcome once it's here. 

In the meantime, last week wasn't bad, but wasn't good either. I didn't lose any weight. In fact, I gained my pound back that I lost. This proves that even the most committed have their weak moments. This is a new week though. A new opportunity to make myself proud. A new chance to reach my fitness goals. 

This week, I hope to lose that pound I lost and one more. I'll achieve this by not making the tempting foods that throw me off track (no spaghetti or taco nights this week). I also look forward to making more time for myself so that I can get to the gym. I missed a couple of days at the gym last week due to my second job, which is on hiatus until September. This school year will be tough with two jobs, school, and fitness, but I'm making a vow now to keep up with my jobs, my studies, my family, and my health. I want to have my head held high by the time 2014 rolls around! 

Speaking of fitness goals and holding my head high: I had a great workout this morning! I have rekindled my love for the rowing machine and worked my chest and shoulders today. The past two days if workouts have been stupendous and I can't wait for my weekly cycling class tomorrow morning! 

As part of staying accountable, I've included my workout report from yesterday. The cycling room at my gym has these wicked awesome black lights and my shirt and shoes were glowing bright while I was sweating it out yesterday solo. I also included a pic of the home made lemonade that I made.

For this delicious lemonade, take two strawberries, a mint leaf, a few stevia leaves, and the juice of a lemon (and I lime if you're feeling feisty) and mull it all together. Then pour into water. This has tasted so good that its all I've been drinking the last two days!! Give it a try! Although its not calorie free, it's only about 50 calories and I poured the juices into a large 40 ounce bottle, and refilled the bottle when it was almost empty to get a second bottle of strawberry mint lemon goodness!

I hope you all make it a great week! It's going to be incredible here!!

July 18, 2013

Happy would be 111th birthday to my grandma! She was my best friend, my mentor, and my mother for the first part of my life. My grandma died in 1993 at the ripe age of 92. The fondest memories I have of her are ones where we were in the garden picking out veggies to use for dinner or in the horse meadow picking dandelion greens for her to put in the pressure cooker. She worked hard, raised nine kids and countless grand kids, and was (and still is) one of my absolute favorite people in the world (along with my grandpa). So happy birthday, Granny! I love you and miss you every single day of my life since you left it. Until we meet again, here is a photo of my uncle, grandma, mom, brother, sister, and myself. This picture must have been taken (obviously) around Christmastime and I'd say in 1991 or 1992. Thanks to my mom for emailing this to me. It's nice to have a picture of my family from my childhood. :)

At any rate, the moral of the story was my grandma was a hard worker. She was up at dawn, took care of her children's children, and made nothing short of a feast for supper every single night. She's my inspiration and I aspire to be as great as she was.

Hard work deserves reward, no matter how small the reward. Today ended up being my rest day. After the hard work I've done in the gym for the last week and a half, my muscles needed a rest. Giving your body a much-needed rest is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and for your general well-being.

My body needed not only rest, but a change. I switched up my usual smoothie breakfast with fresh peach, banana, whole wheat toast, and an egg. It was a wonderfully healthy breakfast that kept me satisfied until well after my regular lunch time. 

For my reward, all of my friends know that I love wine! I had two glasses of wine today, and it was marvelous! Remember that your diet should always be 90/10: 90% healthy choices, 10% smart indulgences. The wine was my smart indulgence today. And likely tomorrow too. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday to come and an equally great weekend! Remember to rest, take care of yourself, and reward yourself. You work hard. You deserve it! 

July 17, 2013

Even the fittest girl has an Achille's Heel. Mine, sadly, are two specific foods: spaghetti and tacos. I can eat mindfully when it comes to anything else: I use proper portion control, I fill my plate reasonably, and I don't go in for seconds. But spaghetti and tacos, man.... I go in for seconds. And thirds. And more and more. By the time I'm done, I hadn't even realized I had three helpings of spaghetti or four tacos. This is something that I am constantly working on in an effort to live healthier. The good news is that I do follow the 90/10 rule: 90% of healthy and 10% of what I want. Luckily for me, my entire week won't be derailed from one day of spaghetti.

With that said, yesterday was an overall good day. I enjoyed an hour of cardio, pushing it harder and working that much more yielded great results that I'm so proud of! For breakfast, I had my fruit and kale smoothie, which I still encourage you all to try kale in the mornings. I use one cup of kale, one bananas, two cups of frozen fruit, and water (though some prefer yogurt or milk), and blend it all together. My fruit smoothies are so filling and only about 250 calories. If you require more calories in the morning, even it out with a piece of whole wheat toast covered in either peanut butter or hazelnut spread. I still have my mornings of eggs, oatmeal, and toast, but lately, the smoothies have been hitting the spot!

Yesterday was my cardio day. I took my spin class that I always take on Tuesday. This week, I decided that I needed to push myself more. Every time the instructor told me to add "a little more tension," I did, and I added more, pushing myself out of my comfort zone! The results were great! I burned 719 calories in an hour. That's 74 calories more than last week's spin class! Pushing  yourself is hard, but the reward is so worth it!

For lunch, I took some of my leftover ceviche and put it on my veggie sandwich. My veggie sandwich consists of 1/4 avocado, 1/2 tomato, a few slices of onion and mango chutney. Adding that shrimp ceviche on gave me some extra protein (which I really needed after my workout) and it tasted wonderful! You can use leftovers in a variety of ways! You never have to eat leftovers the same way twice!

On my agenda is back and traps at the gym during lunch and a run to and from the youth center before and after work. I've included my accountability report for yesterday: calories burned, my smoothie, and my ceviche sandwich. I hope you all have a wonderful day! The week is already half over... I know you can see the weekend right over the horizon!

July 16, 2013

Do you ever have one of those days where you just can't stop dancing or smiling, and you are having a wonderful day for no particular reason? Well, that was yesterday for me! I woke up for work bright and early for work (for those who don't know, my current work shift is 4AM-1PM, so I'm up at 3:50AM to work from my home office), feeling like the day was going to be great. Instead of sitting down, I stood up in front of my computer, helping my customers, talking with co-workers, and dancing to no music. My breakfast was awesome, my work day was awesome, my kid and husband were awesome, and my following workout and evening were spectacular! 

Monday was my chest and shoulders day. I also switched up my cardio machine. I usually LOVE the cross-country machine, but I opted for the elliptical instead. The different muscle groups that it hit and the sweat dripping down my chest, back, and face were confirmation that I made the right choice! I ended up burning 500 calories and felt pretty freakin' wonderful afterwards! 

After the gym, my husband and I ran to the store to grab some more fresh fruit. We are eating so many more fruits and veggies without even thinking twice about it! It makes it so much easier to make healthier snack choices when there are ripe peaches, apples, and bananas sitting in a HUGE bowl on your dining room table! It's a great start to clean eating if you are interested in giving it a shot! 

Even though we are making cleaner food choices, we do still have a ways to go. The biggest hurdle that I have at this time is dessert. Even though it's not clean, I made delicious lemon crinkle cookies yesterday. The recipe did call for powdered sugar, which I didn't use, but you can always use it if you'd like to. In the future, I'm going to add my own lemon zest and juice to amp up the lemon flavor. As well, I'm looking into healthier alternatives for the boxed cake mix and Cool Whip (read: LESS PROCESSED SUGAR). However, since the recipe was so easy and fast (3 ingredients, 3 dozen, 30 minutes), I'm going to share it with you. Chloë helped me with making these and we had an absolute blast working together!

Here's what you need for crinkle cookies:

1 box of cake mix (I chose lemon today. Get what you want!)

1 8-oz package Cool Whip

1 egg

1. Lightly beat egg. Add cake mix and fold in Cool Whip.

2. Drop small balls of mix (it will be very sticky) onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. I used a table spoonful per cookie.

3. In an oven preheated to 350 degrees, bake cookies for 10-12 minutes.

4. Pull cookies out when finished baking. Allow to cool for several minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

These cookies were so easy to make and yielding a large amount- three dozen. The best thing about these cookies were they were only 64 calories each! My husband and I enjoyed a couple each while sitting on the front porch together last night without feeling guilty about having dessert. 

Finally, while my daughter and I were watching "Aladdin" last night (my favorite movie of all time), I was surfing the web and came across a witty, yet inspiring poster. It really hit home because there are days when all I want to do is sleep or be a couch potato or just do nothing at all, but this poster says it all: 

Keep this in mind if you are ever thinking about skipping your workout. Hell, keep this in mind when you think about skipping out on anything that you know is beneficial for you. You'll NEVER regret taking time for yourself and doing something good for yourself. Taking time to make a nice meal, a fun dessert, spending time with those you love, or working out is what makes life fun and interesting. So don't skip something because you don't feel like it. 

Have a great Tuesday, everyone! Today is my cardio day and I can't wait to get on that spin cycle and crush it! I hope you all have plans to get out there and make it one of those days where you can't stop dancing!