28 years young

This past weekend was a FANTASTIC birthday weekend - amazing. I think the thing that made me the most proud was that I got up ON my birthday for a 6am boot camp. 

I had "met" a new friend at the Friday 6am boot camp and was telling her my dilemma about whether to go to the 6am boot camp because it was going to be a busy weekend. On Wednesday night she said to me "have you decided about Friday's class? - I'll be here". It was funny because it motivated me to get my butt out of bed and go.She said to me at the end now wasn't that a great birthday gift to yourself?

Then I reflected and realized it really was a great birthday gift to myself. The gift of health and exercise. Nothing else is more important for my future. 

I'm thoroughly enjoying this bootcamp and it is completely pushing me to my limits. I'm realizing that with exercise a lot of it is mental and your body can do so much more than you think.

Below is a picture of one of the obstacle courses the instructor made us do - it was nuts. 

It included a line of jump squats on the bosc ball, bear crawls, ladder runs, jump squats, push-ups and sits up. I participated in the course continuously for 10 minutes I believe - NUTS!! (but damn a good work-out!). 

=) will keep you updated ... so far I'm down 3 pounds but still doesn't feel significant because I'm still losing the Christmas weight - boo! Regardless I'm feeling fantastic with a more regular exercise system in place. :) 

planning

So after all this time I have realized that the key to success is to plan ahead. Just when you think about leaving the house without a water bottle or without a ziploc of almonds in your purse - go right back into the house and plan ahead.

Planning ahead has helped me a lot such as meal planning, and freeze ahead meals. The weeks where we meal plan for the week and I plan my work-outs for the week I am much more successful. This is something I want to look towards in the new year and stick to. It takes a bit of planning ahead and extra work, but the outcome is fantastic.

I'm pretty excited that the boot camp I've joined requires you to register online for the classes beforehand which will make me a lot more accountable - again - planning - woo hoo!!

Speaking of planning ... below is my planning for soups and lunches for the next month or so ... :) Vegetable Gumbo, Creamy Potato and Pear, Creamy Carrot and Cauliflower and Coconut Chickpea. When I just don't know what to take for lunch I will rely on these freezer meals - yum (and healthy). I've seen the same success by planning ahead and freezing my green smoothies.

These planning ideas are good if you are trying to eat healthy and stay dedicated to a weight loss journey.

Another good example of planning ahead is to look at menus before going out for dinner and knowing what you are going to order so you aren't tempted by other items (I try and do this and it's great!).

Share any other ideas that you do to plan ahead by commenting below ...

Make it a goal this week to ensure the planning sticks and you are accountable for your plans  too :) This is my "plan" hehe

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail." 

feelin' fantastic!

I'm so excited and have to share my excitement.

I bought a groupon for a boot camp and am completely loving it (day 2). It's funny though because I more so love it AFTERWARDS and I'd say I love it 50% of the time DURING it ha ha ... I think it's because during the 50 minutes of pure insanity I feel like I'm pushing myself to my limit times 10. I'm so fortunate that I've had so much time with Shawna (my trainer) because my time with her has taught me how to properly do the exercises form wise.

One thing I'm excited about is that everybody at this boot camp is all ages and all sizes. It's not like some bootcamps where most people are already fit, slim and toned. This bootcamp has such a positive vibe and feeling with people encouraging each other and trying their best.

A few girls at work have decided with the stop of extra curriculars we are going to use the empty gym to our advantage. Our new goal is to do walks around the gym with music blasting 4 nutrition breaks a week for a solid 20 minutes. It's just another way to get movement in and have the support of others.

I saw this picture on the clean eating facebook page and it really resonated with me.
I have put it as my lock screen and background on my iPhone - I figure I look at my cell phone so many times during the day, it will be a great reminder :) Hope this picture can provide all of you with motivation too!

green smoothie deliciousness!

okay so with my lovely gift of the green smoothie bible - I have been reading up on it.and decided to go for it. I already basically do green smoothies every morning with flax seeds, large flake oatmeal and protein powder... but just having a basic green smoothie as a snack could be a great, quick and easy idea ?

So here's what I did

STEP ONE - Get all you ingredients. You can use any dark green ( collard greens, kale, spinach, bok choy to name a few). I've used all of these successfully in the past. If you are new to the green smoothie world I suggest you start with baby spinach.

STEP TWO -  put 1 cup of water, 1 cup of milk (regular or almond) into a blender with 2-3 cups of greens of your choice.I blended these 2 ingredients in my magic bullet for a good 2 minutes to ensure all the small green bits were chopped up. If you have a higher end blender or a "Vitamix" you obviously won't need to blend as long. At this point you could also add chia or flax seeds for extra healthy fats but I get that in my morning smoothie and these were meant for a snack.

STEP THREE - add 2 servings of fruits of your choice into the blender with the greens. I find bananas best because of their delicious flavor but any fruit works. Typically I put 1.5 banana and 1 orange in each smoothie. The picture below of the redish brown smoothie was 1 cup of berries and 1 banana. I also did some that only had banana. Whatever fruit you have around the house and Fortinoes has bananas on for 39 cents a pound right now ;)

STEP FOUR - great suggestion on a blog I found is shown below. Put a zipbloc bag in a glass measuring cup to make servings - I did 1.5 cup servings so I know that I got almost a full cup of greens in every smoothie.

STEP FIVE - End result - success. They say they freeze well - we will see. Take out the night from tbefore so it is able to
Generally I found you could get 3 servings out of each blender.

Positive Attitude

I think I've noticed that the more time I spend around negativity and individuals that don't see the importance of a healthy lifestyle the more negative I become.

It's a difficult situation because there are friends and loved ones you care deeply about and want to spend time with...however I find the negative attitude can rub off on me. I wish I didn't let it.

Negativity is the last thing I need on the journey that is probably one of the hardest ones I've been on. I have never worked so hard at something in my life and to be around people that bring me down just doesn't do it for me.

In general my goal is to embrace the positivity that I know is around me. I have some wonderful friends, family, a kickass trainer and a wonderful fiance who really show me the positive sides of life.

So this post may come across as negative, but I want there to be a positive spin on it. I was able to reflect and realize the importance of the positive people in my life and that I need to ensure I'm putting myself in those positive situations.

I read this online and thought I've share some of the tips .... #6 really hit close to home for me. here's to a POSITIVE 2013 :) Bring it on!
Simple tips for developing a positive attitude:

1. Choose to be happy. Yes, it is a matter of choice.
2. Look at the bright side of life.
3. Choose to be and stay optimistic.
4. Find reasons to smile more often.
5. Have faith in yourself and in the Power of the Universe.
6. Associate yourself with happy people.
7. Repeat affirmations that inspire and motivate you.
8. - Visualize only what you want to happen.
9. Learn to master your thoughts.
   
   

it's a new year ...

okay ... so I've fallen into the guilt of it being a new year and new resolutions ... so here I am on my blog - updating after FAR, FAR too long. I apologize to my avid readers (if I have some lol).

My update is generally a happy one though. Although I've gained a bit over Christmas, I still feel great about my healthy lifestyle and continued work with my trainer. Like most people over the holidays, one cheat day turned into cheat weeks (which does not equal success).

Now here I am .. putting it all out there. I think the realization as to where I was and where I am now was when I was looking at my friend Laura's scrapbook on New Year's Eve. The picture was from 2010 and I was probably at my heaviest (258 ish) mark ... now I'm still teetering on the 200 mark .. back up to 206 (grr) .. but generally over the last 8 months I've maintained a 50 pound weight loss and stayed between 198 and 207.

Ideally I would like that number to go down .. and I'm sure in time it will .. but the fact I've maintained the weight loss and exercise regularly is what I'm so excited about. I never thought exercise would become part of my life the way it has.

I watched this great movie tonight that partly inspired my blog post (thanks Mom for the suggestion) - one thing it talked about was loving yourself unconditionally. My self love has definitely improved over the years, but I still don't think it's where it should be .. so I'm going to promise to do the task they recommend in the video. Look at yourself 2 times a day in the mirror and say "I accept myself unconditionally right now". They say by day 28 you will have more self love than you had and self love = healthier being. If you are on any sort of self love journey, weight loss or otherwise - I challenge you to say that positive message everyday with me ... see if you notice a change!

To kick start I thought of the whole idea of "love yourself naked". I said I'm doing it .. I will take a picture of my exposed self and see where I am next month. I kinda jumped for joy when I fit into my size 10 bikini from first year university (although don't think the top quite fits). I'm putting this picture out there.. more for myself. Do I LOVE the picture of myself in a bikini? not quite yet ... can you tell I work my ass off and try and build muscles ? probably not like most woman body builders but hell I'm still proud of that body and I know the crazy things I have done to start and tone my muscles.


Remember ... you have the power to change yourself.
A quote worth remembering as we head into the new year
"My life tomorrow will be the result of my attitudes and the choices I make today."


and here it is .... it seems crazy for me to "put myself out there" like this .. but I am!! .... stay tuned ...