healthy choices

We Don't Regress

We Don't Regress

Life is going to get chaotic. That’s just a reality of adulting. Whether you work outside your home or not, between managing a household, pets, a family, or whatever it is that’s a priority to you, life can be crazy. The days pass by quickly and seem to be filled with a million things that NEED to get done but might not necessarily happen. 

What Do You Do When Your Workouts SUCK?

What Do You Do When Your Workouts SUCK?

Just because I’m in the fitness industry and train people daily doesn’t mean I don’t have times in my own workouts where I want to LITERALLY throw my towel across the room. Maybe I slept shitty, maybe I didn’t eat properly before, shoot maybe I’m near my cycle, or maybe a certain small human keeps interrupting me. 

Self Care: That Amazingly Awkward Adventure

Self Care: That Amazingly Awkward Adventure

Geez self love and self care feel awkward and icky at first, am I right?
I could go on like the rant of all rants with this one…about how women are maternal creatures and our society as well as evolution have dictated that we be the nurturers to all the members of our tribe. Leaving little to no time for ourselves.

No Time to Cook? My Top 5 Meal Planning Hacks

No Time to Cook? My Top 5 Meal Planning Hacks

You have to plan it into your life. There’s no easy way around it. If being healthy matters to you, if you’re over the muffin top, if you’re over living in a haze of life, you have to put in the effort. 

My Go To Dinner Recipes When I’m Exhausted and Don’t Feel Like Cooking

Every single parent out there can relate to this one. I know it. It doesn’t matter if you work or if you’re a stay at home parent, there are days that just fucking own you. You’re like counting down the hours until you can lay down because you miss your bed so much and the day has just been all the things. Whatever those things are right? Chaotic, frustrating, busy, it doesn’t even matter. We’ve all been there. 

Those are the days when the prospect of cooking is daunting af. Like what fast food place can I drive through the fastest, that’s the most efficient right now? Because cooking is testing my bandwidth for life. 

Don’t get me wrong, we’re all entitled to those breaks from cooking. But the thing with having a healthy lifestyle, getting back to the point where you’re not frustrated with your weight and where you feel like you have balance means that going through the drive thru at the fast food place can’t be your go to anymore. 

I’m not sorry to say that and I know it pisses some of you off. But if you want to see change, you have to be making choices that are in accordance with said change. And I know YOU know the fast food option isn’t in accordance with the change you want to see. 

It’s these days when it’s imperative for you to fall back on those tools in your toolbox that will help support the change you’re trying to make. Fall back on those tools, take the stress out of it, take the thinking out of it and know that you’re still making a good choice for yourself. 

That’s why I’m putting all these downloadable things together for you. So on the days when the overwhelm feels like it’s going to take over your soul, you can fall back on these tools and know that you’re not losing any of your progress. It’s one less thing to think about, it’s one less thing to worry about and hopefully it gives you a little space in your day for you to take care of yourself. 

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Want to Lose Fat? My Top 4 One Pan Meals to Get You There Faster

Losing weight can be one of the hardest things we ever have to do. Not just because we want that instant gratification of the weight coming off easily and quickly, which I can appreciate but also because most of us don’t have a shit ton of time to dedicate TO our weight loss. 

Here’s the thing: the weight didn’t come on overnight so it’s not going anywhere overnight. Especially not if you’re wanting to maintain the weight loss and if you’re looking to lose the weight in a healthy manner. That alone is freaking frustrating af. Because you’re over it. You’re over your clothes feeling uncomfortable, you’re over not wanting to be in the family picture because you don’t like how you look and dang girl, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone tell you that your ass looks good in those yoga pants?

There are SO many factors that go into weight loss. I won’t get into all of them here, but please know that it really is an individual journey. And that individual journey can definitely have some peaks and valleys, so when you get to the point where you want to lose weight and cut the fat off your body (with your own knife if you could) know that you’re also embarking on a journey of patience and self love. 

Here’s the other thing: if you’re an adult with adult responsibilities, you probably don’t have a ton of time to be dedicating to your workouts everyday, meal planning might go to shit sometimes and really life is going to get in the way. 

Discouraging huh?

It doesn’t have to be. I think it means being a little more diligent towards the choices you’re making that will set you up for success. Like knowing what’s for dinner, having snacks prepped, knowing when you’re going to work out and what that workout will be (and maybe having a back up plan just in case). If you want to have a healthy lifestyle you can’t just WILL it into place, you have to put it in place. But once you get those habits under control, I think you’ll be shocked with how easy it is to actually maintain it. 

So start with dinner planning. Grab the downloadable and have that be a few of your dinner options during the week. Then decide if you want to prep everything over the weekend or if you’re good waiting until the day of to go to the store and get everything you need. 

Just like that you’re one step closer towards living a healthier life, one step closer to making yourself a priority and one step closer to losing the weight you’ve been wanting to lose. 

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How To Workout When You're Tired AF and Totally Unfocused

I got to that point in my post partum journey where I literally couldn’t find pants that fit comfortably. It was the most discouraging feeling in the world. 

I knew I needed to workout but the prospect of moving my body as a new mama to a kid who apparently hated sleep exhausted me even more than I was already exhausted. It was a daunting prospect.

But here’s the thing: as long as you’re moving your body, and increasing your heart rate you’re going to burn calories. So on the days when you’re tired af, don’t focus on WHAT you’re doing, focus on just DOING.

Here’s my pro tip for how to workout when you’re exhausted:

Listen to your body. It’s really that simple. Be kind to yourself. Our bodies go through such a tremendous amount of change when we’re growing our families. We tend to forget that this change happens LONG before the baby actually shows up in our arms.

Don’t worry I won’t get all science nerd on ya, but rest assured between physical and hormonal changes that occur while you’re pregnant, your body has been through the ringer before you even go into labor.

Then regardless of whether or not your labor goes “smoothly” (OMG biggest laugh ever…smooth labor…I mean a watermelon coming out of THAT is definitely something you’re going to feel) you’ve still experienced a trauma. While it is a beautiful, transformative, life creating experience, it is still a trauma. And even though our bodies were designed to be able to create, carry and deliver life, it’s still a process with its own hormonal releases and physical changes. 

And THEN you start breastfeeding which is a whole other game of hormonal and physical changes.

Here’s my point to this long winded reflection down memory lane. Your body has gone through a lot and if you’re still relatively early in your post partum journey, your body is still going through a lot. Not to mention that you’re attempting to teach a small human how to sleep, eat and all of those things. 

I think of all those things, I think back to when I experienced all those things (with a colicky baby) and I was tired AS FUCK. I’ve never been that tired before, not even when I was in the Army did I EVER FEEL THAT TIRED. Bone sucking, mentally ass kicking exhaustion. It’s the kind of tired that you can’t even explain to another human. It’s that unrelatable.

So I can imagine that the prospect of working out makes you want to kick people in the shins. Conversely you feel like you have to because you’re just so sick of seeing that flab that makes you look like you’re in the not so cute stages of pregnancy (when it looked like you just ate too much) so you feel like you have to workout. Talk about a shitty catch-22.

Listen to your body. Be patient. Be kind. Know that these changes that happened in your body took almost a full year to occur so give yourself TIME to heal and TIME to get back to a healthy state. Focus on the things you can control. Like eating healthy food.

When you go to workout, do the workouts that sound the most appealing in that second of time. I always had a workout and a contingency plan. The reason being two fold: first I could have options if I was so tired I couldn’t see straight AND I needed a back up in case things around me went to shit.

I always had the hardcore, super intense workout. This was normally something HIIT, or longer endurance workouts that I knew would kick my ass. Then my back up was always the gentler option. Yoga, mat pilates, resistance training, stretch days, things that were kinder to my body.

On days when I needed to, I did the gentler workouts and celebrated the fact that I could still move my body and on the days when Grace wasn’t partying like an out of control rockstar, I did the more intense workouts. On days that went so amazingly well I had to pinch myself, I did both (those days were rare in my house).

Regardless, I was doing the work and what mattered more is that I was doing the work consistently. I could focus because the workout was what I needed, I felt better after, and I knew that I was still on my way back to feeling like myself again.

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It's Time For Salads

I swear as soon as it gets semi-warm in San Diego, any desire I have to cook goes out the freaking window. I can’t be the only one right? Like the prospect of standing in front of a hot stove or having the oven on sounds horrid. 

I mean after a long day at the pool or the beach, who wants to have a hot meal? No thanks. I would totally rather have something cooling, with lots of fruits and veggies. Lucky for me, the warm weather also brings my favorite rock fruits into season, and I’m a totally sucker for some fruits in a salad. I do realize that fruits in a green salad are an acquired taste, so if this isn’t your jam, I totally get it. 

But if it is your jam, then you’re totally in luck. Grab the recipe and be prepared for a flavor explosion.

The best part about this one for me was the versatility of having it as either a full meal or as a starter or side salad. I added in chicken to turn it into a full meal (because I had leftover grilled chicken) but you could also do grilled shrimp or even grilled salmon. And you know if you try these things out, or even something else (like maybe steak) and it works out well, I totally want to know about it!

Enjoy!

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How Do You Use Your Fear?

This is going to seem like it’s totally out of left field, but go with me. Do you know who Cus D’Amato is? Don’t go Googling him just yet, I’ll tell you the little bit that I know and why he fascinates me. He was a boxing trainer and boxing manager who trained heavy weight champion Mike Tyson as well as Olympic gold medalist Floyd Patterson. Side note, one of his methods of training was hypnosis.

Anyways, D’Amato was known not just for his unorthodox training methods but also for his quotes, one in particular (it’s super famous and I put the full quote below for your reading pleasure) that speaks about fear and how fear can work to your advantage if you understand it.

I think fear is a predominate force that holds people back, myself included. I remember the first time my PT said I could walk again (without assistance), took my boot and told me to walk. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. I thought my whole foot would crumble, I thought I was going to fall, I thought I would FAIL. But I took that first step because I had the support of my PT beside me and I told her what was scaring me. 

I think fear is what holds people back from losing weight or incorporating healthy living as a way of life and not just a pipe dream. The actual reasons behind the fear are different depending on the person, but it’s fear nonetheless.

Ultimately it’s fear of the unknown. Unhealthy living is still living after all, not to your fullest potential, but it’s something you become comfortable with like you would an old friend. We get used to feeling like shit, being sluggish and tired, having that roll of fat that pooches over your pants and then we make up excuses for it. Trust me, I’ve heard every excuse under the sun. Everything from “I can’t do it”, to “my body won’t lose weight”, to “I’m just a thick girl”.

 I know that what’s really behind those excuses is the fact that changing is scary. That anticipation of what could be is terrifying, you don’t know what will happen on the other side of things so it’s easier to just stay where you are.

So it’s easier to just stay where you’re at and continue complaining. But here’s the thing: if you can understand what’s holding you back, if you can understand where those excuses are coming from, then you can use that fear to propel you past the excuses and into a healthy life.

Harness your fear and what’s holding you back and turn it into a strength, then all of a sudden the excuses that used to work won’t work and you’ll be well on your way to your healthiest and happiest existence.

Here’s D’Amato’s full quote:

“You must understand fear so you can manipulate it. Fear is like fire. You can make it work for you; it can warm you in the winter, cook your food when you’re hungry, give you light when you’re in the dark and produce energy. Let it go out of control and it can hurt you, even kill you…fear is a friend of exceptional people.” – Cus D’Amato

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Snacks are My Favorite

Ok I want to break down this practical side of healthy living a little more than I did in my last post. Especially when it comes to food. Because I really do feel like that’s where most people struggle and that’s the part that truly makes the biggest difference. It’s that whole saying of “abs are made in the kitchen” ya know? As much as I am not a fan of that saying because it just sounds kind of dumb to me, it does hold merit. At the end of the day, nothing that you’re doing as far as your fitness will make any difference, you won’t see any gains in any way, if your nutrition isn’t on track.

I’m definitely not saying that you have to be SO rigid that you can’t enjoy life. I don’t feel like that’s a realistic way to live either. What I have seen is that when people cut out one thing or another as a means of “dieting” and not a nutritional necessity (like an allergy for instance), as soon as they can get access to the thing they cut out, they binge on it. Like hardcore binge. And then there’s hardcore guilt that follows and ultimately what happens in this cycle is a horrible relationship with food.

But then if the goal is a healthy lifestyle, where you’re eating in moderation for everything you consume, how do you actually make sure that you’re able to do that well? Like how do you avoid eating the sleeve of girl scout cookies because that’s all you see in your house when you’re super hangry? 

You know the answer. You have to have the healthy options available. But I would take that even a step further and say that you have to have the healthy options available and prepped. Here’s why: either you’re going to be so hangry that you don’t FEEL like prepping anything or the prospect of having to cook something sounds annoying AF, or you’re going to be running late out the door to get your kids to whatever activity they have and realize not only that you don’t have snacks prepped but you’ve run out of time to do anything about it.

Life for all of us runs at 120 MPH most of the time, so we have to put conscious thought into what we’re putting in our bodies. It can’t be a second guessed choice, or a last minute decision. That’s when you spend a ton of cash getting something when you’re out that’s “healthy” or you’re shoveling whatever you can find in your mouth. Either option isn’t the best option for you.  

I know I said this in the last post about being intentional with meal prepping but it comes to snack prepping as well. But it’s not just making sure that you have the snacks in the house. Pre-portion it out so you don’t have to think about what you’re grabbing when you running out of the door. Make sure that you have the accompanying dip or whatever pre-portioned out as well. It sounds so small but it ends up being so big.  

So have the baby carrots, the apple slices (pro tip: a little squeeze of lemon spread out in the baggie helps to keep them from turning brown), cucumber slices, cheese slices, or whatever else it is that you like in baggies and ready to go. But also make sure that you have nut butter, tzatziki, hummus, shoot even Ranch dressing also ready to go in little Tupperware containers. Take the guess work out of it. Take the thought out of it and you won’t have to worry about falling into temptation or spending your whole paycheck on something you didn’t really want in the first place.

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