Fitness Friday: Staying Motivated

It's happened.  The honeymoon is over.  Now real life sets in and the fact that it is not Friday speaks volumes about how my fitness week went.  It was a crazy crazy busy week and fitting in eating healthy and working out was a challenge.  Lack of sleep thanks to teething and prepping little man's first party was surely a test.  Fighting the tired-ness, cranky-ness, busy-ness of life to stay motivated and reach my goal.  How did I make it through?  How did I stay motivated?

Failure is motivation.  This week I had a glimpse of what my days use to be and I didn't like it.  I'd say it was my worst fitness day of the month.  I knew I was up for a busy day driving all over running errands and didn't meal prep. I didn't eat breakfast, crap lunch, no snacks, no workout.  Awful.  My body just felt hungry, tired, and blah. 

 Thankfully I have the accountability group.  I didn't realize how important it was to have accountability.  The ladies are so encouraging, motivating and inspiring.  Seeing our coaches reminders and checking in every night with a quick rate 1-10 about our workout, eating, and water has kept me in line.  I missed that one workout and I hated having to put a zero for that day and ended up making it up on the "rest" day.  

I don't know about you but shopping for me is always a good motivator [insert girly giggle].  Since I have discovered how amazingly comfortable active wear is I am addicted.  They make the clothes too comfy I want to seriously wear them all day everyday.  Who needs jeans anyways?!  Really grateful to have such an amazing husband.  He's seen my commitment and hard work and treated me to a new workout outfit.

AND some new kicks!  I haven't seriously ran since my knee injury so we call them my walking shoes.  The last time I bought "running shoes" was freshman year of college when I wanted to get motivated to start running.  That was about 7 years ago so I'm well over due.  I'm loving the spring-y colors and they are motivating me to get out there and go for a little jog/walk. 

The biggest motivation is seeing the change in my body and ability.  I took before pictures and measurement and just did an update Thursday.  Wow I can really see the difference!  I'm not quite ready to show them yet but seeing the change has left me wanting more.  The amazing part is I am eating more than I was before but still have lost two inches in my belly and waist.  Say what?! [just a note.... that is not me in the picture]

On Saturday after the party I did the Piyo Sweat workout and reached one of my goals of doing the entire workout without modification [yup all the push ups] and I did it!  my body was dying but I did it!  Reached one of my goals.  Talk about motivation!! 

What are some things that keep you motivated??  

 Until next time.  Toodles!

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Fitness Friday: Strength and Flexibility

Almost two weeks since I've started and I'm still on the fitness honeymoon.  I'll rate these two weeks the way our March Madness accountability group rates ourselves each day.  Eating 7, workout 9.5, Water 7.  You can still see where my struggles are but the workouts have been amazing!  

I'm seriously loving Piyo.  It''s low impact so no knee pain and it's 20-35 minutes a day [which has turned out to be totally do-able even after a crazy week like this past one]  I would consider it to be the girl version of P90X.  It's not as intense but still gives the results.  I also love that one of the girls always shows every single modified move in the workout.  This has proven to be very very helpful for me!  

I'm not ready to show my before picture yet but I took a progress one yesterday.  The physical changes are subtle...

But my improving strength and flexibility are evident.  It is actually amazing.  I know touching your toes is no big DILL to most people but I can't even remember the last time my NON limber self was able to do it.  It's actually embarrassing for me.  Two weeks of Piyo and now I can!  Amazing.  Yup fingers to toes with straight legs. Ha! Loving that piyo works that flexibility.  After two weeks I'm  also able to do the planks and push ups in the work outs.  

 If you can't already tell by how excited I am about being able to touch my toes, I am a person who celebrates small victories.  Like eating breakfast every morning even if it means it's a Shakeology shake to go.

Or trading in some of those boxed salty sweet snacks for something a little more fresh.  It's been neat to see this little lady ask to try what I am eating.  Earlier this week she said she can't eat pumpkin seeds because they will turn her green... Ha!  Then today she announced she likes it after all.  

 And because the weather was so wonderful this week, I walked with the kiddos to get some groceries and wasn't huffing, puffing, muscles burning like usual.  We even jogged some of it!  Say what?! 

Starting this fitness program has been the best decision I've made this year.  I really wanted to get healthy and I'm slowly getting there.  Looking forward to seeing the progress in another few weeks!  

 Until next time.  Toodles!

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Fitness Friday: Learning to Eat

I shared my fitness journey with you all.  I also introduced my friend Salma who will be my fitness coach for the next 30 days in case you missed it.  Preparing from last week.

It's been a full first week and I have to say it was awesome!!  I like to call the first few weeks the honeymoon phase because it is new, fresh, I'm motivated, excited and it's easy to stick to the program.  I'm trying to get the most out of this honeymoon phase as I can!

The difference between my attempts at fitness in the past and this time is the accountability.  I love it!!!  It may not be for everyone but it is fueling my fire.  It's all online, March Madness, three coaches, and women wanting to change.  We check in on Facebook in a private group everyday, answer questions, rate each day, share our struggles, get encouragement, inspiration.  It's a daily reminder about the commitment we all made for the month.  [You can follow my awesome coaches on Insta if you need motivation: Charlani and Salma]

One of the tasks was to make a vision board.  I saw this quote a few weeks back and thought it perfectly describes this journey for me.  I want to be a better me.  Take care of me so I can take care of my family. To be that fit healthy mom in the top right picture, to be able to look and feel great for this summer's family vacation and of course to eat right.

I  confess I am the ultimate junk food addict, I snack constantly, and a desserts every night kind of person.  I only eat fruits and veggies every so often.  I don't drink enough water and most days only have a coffee for breakfast.  Yikes!!!  This week I was really inspired by the ladies to meal prep.  Oodles of fruits, veggies, and hard boiled eggs.  I actually ate a serving of fruits everyday and traded in some of my unhealthy snacks for some of these options.  Say what?!  

To help solve that breakfast issue I did what one of the ladies did, made egg muffins.  Some days I don't have time to sit at the table with a bowl of cereal and milk.  I'm busy trying to get everyone out of the house so these are perfect!  Ten seconds in the microwave and eat them on the go.  I've already made two batches because everyone including baby boy loves them...  bacon cheddar and zucchini mushroom.  So yummy.

A video posted by Patty (@makeitcozeee) on Mar 3, 2015 at 11:10am PST

This week I really learned that working out is only half the battle.  It's also about eating right.  I can honestly say that because I ate all three meals and snacked healthy I felt so much more energized, less bloated, and simply good.  I know because yesterday was a snow day... snow day brunch and junkies all day.  By the end of the day I was feeling sick to my stomach.  I'm not throwing out all of my goodies or "dieting", just trading in some of those unhealthy goodies for something fresh.

As for the work outs, I LOVE it!  I have a bad knee so too much impact with irritate it.  This is low impact and though my knee feels a little sore it's not swollen or so uncomfortable I have to wear my brace.  I'm hoping this actually strengthens it.  Piyo still gets me confused because the movements aren't grand but boy oh boy is my entire body aching!  The Piyo sweat lived up to it's name and I was sparkling even with some modified moves.

It's been an awesome fitness week.  I learned a lot about how to eat.  As my future sister in law says [yea Roach I'm talking about you] Ab's are made in the gym but shown in the kitchen. 

 Until next time.  Toodles!

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