Fitness Friday

Yesterday was the best day ever. Why? Because I finally got my body and muscles to respond enough so I know what I must do in order to hit my final fitness goal leading up to the big wedding day. WOOT!! *cheers* I absolutely love my boxing gym that I go to and it keeps me going throughout the week. However, it just didn't seem to be enough for me. Now my trainer from my old gym transferred his power circuit classes over to the gym I go to now and I am ECSTATIC. After I went to my power boxing class, I decided to stay for the 30-minute power circuit class that I've been missing SO much since I left my previous gym #fitnessproblems. Well..it's more like a love/hate relationship since they fricken kick my ass every single time even without a prior workout.

Instead of just making you sweat a lot, these circuits work every muscle in your body. It's a HUGE pet peeve of mine when people focus on sweat...just because you sweat a lot during a workout, doesn't mean jack when it comes to reaching fitness goals. You can sit on your ass all day in a sauna and sweat buckets, but does that mean you'll look like Gisele at the end of the day? No. Of course I'm not a certified trainer, but I've been trained by some fantastic people and you really shouldn't be measuring a workout by how much you sweat, but by the quality of the workout. At least this philosophy led me to where I am now which is officially about 40lbs lighter while replacing my fatsy cells with muscle.

I was in a fitness rut for awhile and did the same routines, but now I'm finally back to REALLY kicking my ass now that I'm almost at the three-month wedding marker. Shit just got real. Looking at my before and after photo is definitely my motivation every single day. I don't know about anyone else who has fitness goals out there, but staying focused on how far you've come is a great way to keep going strong.

I've had a few people ask what I did and what they can do to lose weight and really...I have no magic pill. If there was one, believe me..I would have found it by now. I reached each fitness goal by working my ass off (literally) by hiring a personal trainer at first and then once I was knowledgeable enough to tough it out on my own at the gym, I did just that. Hiring a personal trainer at the beginning was the best thing I could have done since I knew that I wouldn't slack at all or make excuses if I knew someone ELSE was counting on me to show up at give it my best. A great trainer gives you the tools for the bod that you want and he did just that. He also let me know what I should be avoiding and what I should be focusing on. When I began my whole fitness gig, I was in college...SO naturally my diet consisted of alcoholic beverages, pizza and everything that was not good for you. Lately, I've been making myself kale and baby spinach salads with turkey. I've also replaced a lot of empty carb foods like breads and pasta out of my diet to hit my final fitness goal. (Wish me luck...) I just about attacked anyone with a sandwich or bagel within the past two days since I'm pretty much a carboholic. These Sambazon superfood juice blends have become a favorite of mine to keep me satisfied throughout the day. The blueberry + pomegranate is probably my favorite.

I think the hardest part right now for me is to avoid the extras such as Starbucks, avoiding things that come out of a box and sticking to my meal plans. I'm also planning on trying out the AdvoCare Cleanse phase to detox my body a little. Although I've always been scared of "cleanses" since I don't really have the time to be hitting the bathroom every 15 minutes...oh well, I need to hit my next level of badass!

Fitness Feedback

So due to the many personal responses I received from my previous post about my journey toward more of a healthy me, I've decided to incorporate some tips that have helped me throughout my battle with weight loss as some of you guys have requested. Take note, I am in no way a certified nutritionist, personal trainer or anything of the sort. These tips are things that I've gathered from other trainers and have tweaked them a bit so they were more effective for me personally.

A lot of people may have different things they need to work on such as eating more healthy foods or finding the motivation to kick your butt enough at the gym. For me, it was getting my mind in the right place. If you don't make fitness a main priority in your daily schedule, then you'll find yourself piling on the excuses. "Oh I have too much work to do." "Oh I'm so tired." Blah, blah, blah. Once you finish that workout you'll feel accomplished and on your way toward a better version of you. (Ugh, totally sound like some kind of Dr. Phil character...my apologies).

 

One thing I have learned to do in the very beginning was to plan my workouts ahead of time so they were in my schedule right away. Once I scheduled my workout, there was absolutely no canceling it unless it was for a work-related reason or family emergency. On Sunday when I planned my workouts I also made sure I was doing something different almost everyday. One day it was boxing, another for running after work and others were reserved for strength training with kettle bells. Switching up my workouts prevented me from plateauing in weight later on. Once my body gets used to the same old workout, it just doesn't have the same effect. Oh and for those of you who whine about lifting weights because you don't want to "bulk up" PA-LEASE you're not going to turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger for doing some kettle bell swings or bench presses and the strength training will help turn that flab to FABulous muscle. It's awesome when you work yourself so hard you can barely lift yourself out of bed in the morning.

Another tip that I found useful was to find a way to hold myself more accountable for my progress or lack thereof. I realized that I needed to hire a personal trainer since I knew that if I didn't do my workouts in the middle of the week, he would definitely notice if I wasn't up to speed. Other more affordable ways I've learned to do this now is partnering up with a friend and meeting them for a workout or run in the morning. What are you going to say? "Oh no, I'm too tired" when they're there knocking on your front door? Nope!

Yet another beginner tip I absolutely had to focus on doing was to find my motivation and KEEP IT. It's easy to start out since your motivation is at its peak, but to keep it there I did several things. I did things like purchased a goal dress or picked out a goal outfit that I would get once I achieved a goal for myself, I created a motivation board on Pinterest that is full of inspirational photos and hard bodies that I wish I had myself and I subscribed to fitness magazines so I could not only read about adapting to more of a healthy lifestyle but also maintain that state of mind. Baby steps kids, you'll get there! It's all about progress!

Happy 2013!!

First thing is first...HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

2012 was full of amazing things from start to finish. From getting engaged to attending many family weddings and receiving so many opportunities regarding my career. Although 2012 was full of amazing things, I am so excited to see what 2013 has in store for me. I love new beginnings and a new year is always refreshing. According to statistics, the most common New Year's resolution is to of course lose weight....I am happy to say that I am not part of that majority. I'm particularly not a fan of resolutions because there is so much pressure and really just sets you up for failure if you aim too big. However, my main goal for this year will be being more focused than ever on finding a place Josh and I can call our own and with that comes being more conscious of my budget and spending. I want to be able to start off 2014 in a home we can call our own or at the very least be very close to finding the perfect place. So that's the main goal that will be floating around in my head for the next year.

Staying focused will be the key to my success and I am motivated more so than ever to make some major financial progress. Now that the damage of the holidays has been done to my bank account, I can recover from that and work my way up from there. I totally got this. While I have my main goal in mind, I do have a checklist of things that definitely need to be done throughout the year...

2013 Checklist

- Finish reading my stockpile of books
- Donate A TON of clothes
- Register and finish the Super Spartan Race
- Keep up with my fitness goals
- Continue planning for the wedding
- Appreciate the little things in life a little more
- Write for myself more
- Travel and see new things
- Embrace change

and most importantly....