Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I realize this is a day of food, family and overdoing it on the pumpkin pie. I am no exception to the rule. However, remember that today is only one day and if you gorge today, just pick yourself up and get back on track tomorrow. Of course the way to get through today is to try everything but in small portions. I’m going to attempt this however my moms in town making her famous stuffing and a small portion just won’t cut it. The good news is that I’m not hosting so I don’t have days of leftovers to say no to.
Anyway, I’ve gotta get back in the kitchen so again Happy Thanksgiving to all and if your sitting around just watching football while someone else is cooking then you should try to get in some exercise before the big meal. Check out some commercial break workouts, they’re fantastic!
Also, here’s a little motivational post it to get your day started right.

Level 2

About a week ago I decided to follow Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I needed something I could do at home since I’ve been struggling to get my butt in the gym now that I’m working there. Can I just say I love it? In fact, I jacked borrowed her 3-2-1 method and have incorporated that in with some of my clients. We both love it. Anyway, today I begin level two and I’m very much looking forward to it. I don’t expect to see the results I would hope to only because my diet isn’t quite on point right now. (It’s the holidays and I’ve got family in town…makes things difficult but dammit I’m gonna try!) I’m going to put in the exercise effort.
Also, I’m keeping up with motivational post it’s. I’m doing this post from my phone and can’t seem to get a pic to upload so you’ll just have to take my word for it. It’s day 43 and the quote to get me to turn off Housewives and get my butt in gear is “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Don’t be afraid to push yourselves. It may hurt today but its gonna feel great tomorrow!
(Oooohhhh….figured it out. Apparently I have to be patient, lol.)

Are you kidding me?!?!

Have I really not posted anything in over a month?  How have you guys let me get away with it?  How have I let myself get so off track.  I know, I know you all must be so tired of hearing about how I fall off the wagon and how this time I’m serious about starting over.  Well, I’m not going to do that this time.  I have given myself a new 7 week goal (ending on New Years Eve) but I’m not going to sit here and talk about how great I’m going to do this time.  Lemme tell you why.  It’s simple…life just gets in the way.  I realize there are people who make fitness their lives and I hope to one day be able to do that.  However, that just ain’t happening right now. 

I have two jobs now and that takes up a lot of time.  Granted, one of those is actually as a trainer working at the gym, but that’s not the point.  Since I started working there, I look at the gym like a job.  Do you go into work when you don’t have to?  Does anyone?  I doubt it.  Even though I love my job and I love working out, if I don’t have clients I tend to want to go home and relax now.  I have to get myself out of this habit.  To help myself a bit with this, I have started working out more at home and during my lunch breaks at my day job.  This is definitely doing what I hoped it would, but I’ve still gotta get my ass back in the gym. 

Food has also been a big problem.  I don’t even know where to begin with this, but lets just say it’s no good.  Since I started this 7 week goal I have been doing better, but man am I having some serious cravings.  Last night I would’ve thrown children into traffic for a Whopper, but I didn’t give into it.  I went home and made this:

That is beef fajita meat and my most favorites of side dishes creamed spinach (just add light swiss laughing cow to cooked spinach and voila!).  It was no Whopper but it made me feel a whole hell of a lot better than a burger would have.

I also made sure that I stocked up on healthy foods on my last shopping trip.  Take a look at this basket and be jealous.  Go ahead, I won’t tell anyone. 🙂  Eggs, veggies, fruits, brown rice, and some more delicious yummies.

I also went to the “bulk” store and bought a giant pork loin for less than $16.  Out of it I was able to get two 4-oz portions, eleven 5-oz portions, seven 6-oz portions, and one 8-oz portion.  That’s a whole lotta pork, booyah!!  And I know it looks like a lot of fat, but I cut that out, so don’t judge me!

And finally, I started back up with my motivational countdown post-its.  These are easily one of the best things to keep me on track.  When I can see daily how well I am or am not doing, then I am able to hold myself more accountable.  My bestie has actually joined in with me.  She’s taking even days and I’m taking odd.  Here are our post-its for the first couple days.  (Today is day 46, BTW.)

So, here is where I am right now.  I am going to try really damn hard to keep myself in check.  I am going to try really damn hard to survive the holidays without expanding my waistline.  I am going to try really hard, but I am not going to punish myself for any missteps I may take.  This is probably the worst time of the year to start to make changes, but if you keep putting things off, then you will never start.  I figure if two days over the next 45 (those days being Thanksgiving and Christmas) I have bad food then it isn’t the end of the world.  I will consider those my cheat days and just pick myself up, dust myself off and get back on track.  We’ll see how this goes.  I have to keep reminding myself that the best gift I can give myself for Christmas is a better me so here’s wishing me and all of you success!

TGIF A Week in Review

It’s Friday!  Woohoo!  It’s been a busy week.  I have been doing some major work towards my certification and preparing to take on new clients at the gym.

First things first, certification is a bitch!  I love it and I love all the things that I’m learning but phew, it’s a lot!  Check out some of the cheat sheets I’ve made for myself so far:

When I’m not trying to learn the central nervous system, skeletal system, muscular system, etc… I’m trying to learn how exactly to do program design.  I’ve had some really great resources and people who are more than willing to help.  It’s stressful but exciting.  This is my new career and I’m so glad to get the opportunity to get my foot in the door.  Here are two of the plans I put together this morning.  One is for a client looking to do strength training and the other is for a client looking to lose weight and gain lean muscle.  Feel free to give me any suggestions or critiques, but be gentle, I’m new to this.

Oh, and duh, no trainer would be complete without some sweet ass gym gear and a stop watch so I stopped by JC Penney’s and the local sporting goods store to pick up these bad boys.  Best part is the pink one is not only super cute but it also supports breast cancer awareness.  Gotta love that!

So that’s all the good stuff going on this week, but let me get a little personal and a little real on two separate topics.  First, I cannot have carbs at dinner. I just can’t.  Veggies don’t count, I’m referring to starchy carbs and grains.  Does anyone else run into this problem? Sometimes you just don’t feel like cooking dinner and Subway is what tends to happen when we don’t feel like cooking or just don’t have time to make anything.  Sure, sure I could get a healthy 6″ sub, but c’mon, that just ain’t happening!  I need a giant foot long sub and lets face it, mayonnaise is amazing and my sandwich will always be smothered with it.  So, I was not too thrilled with my weigh-ins this week.  Here are my morning motivation post it notes and you can see that there was no weight loss progress over the four-day period.  😦

It’s ok though, I’ll survive.  I just have to realize that this is a process and there is no quick fix.  So I got lazy one night.  Do I sit and beat myself up about it or just make sure I eat right and get back on track?  I think I’ll take the latter.

Now, onto personal topic number too…and I do mean personal.  Does anybody else find that they get a little um constipated stopped up when they are eating clean?  I know I do.  Sometimes I don’t notice when a couple days go by but earlier this week it was just  a liiiiiiiiiittle uncomfortable.  Well, I was in the natural food market picking up my ezekiel bread and realized that I had no cash.  It’s a $10 minimum for debit cards there so I started walking around trying to find something that I not only wanted but needed.  The hubs recently started drinking hot tea so I thought I’d be a doll and pick him up some new tea to try.  That is when I stumbled upon this gift from above.

OMG!   I love it.  It tastes good.  It’s easy to drink.  It works like a charm.  I had a cup of tea Monday night before bed and another Tuesday morning with breakfast.  That was all it took and I was…ahem, back to normal.  This company makes tons of different types of teas and you can order them online here if you can’t find them in a store near you.  I’m really looking forward to my next visit so I can try one of the other types.  Maybe next time I’ll actually get one for the hubby.  It’s about the least I could do considering he brought me home flowers just for being a good wife.  Man, I’m a lucky girl!  See…

Hmmm….I went over studying, prepping, my dinner boo boo, poo-tea and how wonderful my husband is, so I think I covered my week.  Here’s hoping for a good weekend and hopefully another post on Sunday.  I swear, I swear I’ll really start getting on here more!  It will happen.  I just have to remember to take more pictures because lets be honest, no one wants to hear me rant and rave and not be visually stimulated.  So, until next time, have a great weekend and get your asses in the gym. 🙂