h2o for the Win! Spice Up Your Water!

I was chatting with one of my clients this morning, and she wasn't the biggest fan of drinking JUST water, so she asked if she could put lemons in it...Inspired blog post!

I can't explain to you how important and beneficial it is to drink the proper amount of water!! A few of the many benefits are:

• It helps keep your body fluids in balance (say bye-bye to bloating!)
• It helps energize your muscles (when muscle cells don't have enough water, they can't preform at their maximum potential!)
• It helps keep your skin and hair fresh and healthy

However, if you're like me, you might not always drink enough water. At one point I was really good about getting in my 2 gallons, but nowadays, I'm not as dedicated as I should be. It normally just slips my mind honestly, not to mention I love sweet tea... But, I have found that fruit infused water is a life saver! The fruit gives the water flavor, some extra nutrients and detoxifying properties! There really isn't much to it! Just pick your fruit, slice it up and throw it in your glass, bottle or pitcher! The longer it sits, the stronger the flavor. The fruit can be used up to three days in cold water. Enjoy! :) 

Transformation Tuesday: Once Upon an Eating Disorder

Happy Transformation Tuesday Fitfam!

Sometimes when we think about transformations in fitness, the first thing that comes to mind is weight loss; which is awesome!! Other times though, we forget about the transformation that have gone the opposite direction, with growth changes in both the body and mind. With that being said, here is my story.

Once Upon an Eating Disorder...  

It has taken me a while to find a happy balance with my body. I've always been super self conscious and never satisfied or content with my own body, starting as early as high school. I let a silly number control my life. I started out how I looked on the left. I was 17 and suddenly became obsessed with the number on the scale, the number in my jeans; NUMBERS. If I wasn't under 120 pounds and a size 0, I wasn't happy. (May I remind you, I'm 5'10, and that is NOT a weight that is anywhere close to healthy for my height). My freshmen year of college, I was a collegiate athlete playing both indoor and beach volleyball, and was told by my strength and conditioning coach that at 5'10, 122 lbs and 19.5% body fat, that I was a "Skinny Fat Girl". If someone told me that now, I would laugh and shake it off. But being that fragile 18 year old in a new place for college, learning what it's like be away from home, in a controlling relationship and in the state of mind that I was already in, it wasn't something I could just shake off. That 18 year old girl heard "FAT" and that's when my anorexia turned into anorexia athletica. In the middle picture, you can see what my body had withered away to. My arms were twigs, my hipbones were protruding far past my actual stomach, you could count every bone in my sternum. Despite family and friend concerns, I convinced myself I wasn't hungry, barely ate anything if I was, and would run about 5 miles a day with a 1 hour workout a day. In my mind though, I was still FINE. I was always tired, I can't even explain how tired I was after a volleyball match. I was starving both literally and figuratively for self happiness. I hated so many things about my body. God forbid I walked past a mirror or scale because those were prime opportunities to tear myself apart. It was such a mind game. One day I woke up and just didn't want to feel like that anymore, and I finally made a decision to change. I got out of the controlling, unhealthy relationship I was in, (little did I know how big of a part that was playing in my negative self image), strengthened my relationship with God, and started to learn about fitness and nutrition. With my new self freedom and newly found knowledge in fitness and nutrition, I started my fitness journey. I put on 15 lbs, and found out how much better I feel with the proper nutrition and working out combination. A year later, I met the man of my dreams, who showed me what it's truly like to be loved and appreciated by your significant other, and through his love, taught me to love myself. So through God, my loving Godly boyfriend and family, and fitness, I have found a healthy balance! In the final picture above, a happy healthy girl, who has learned from her experience and grown from it. Fitness and health is a lifestyle change, not a fad or a temporary fix. ❤ 

Respect the process, enjoy the journey, and love yourself every step of the way ❤

   

Winner Winner, Eat Clean Dinners!

As I always say, eat clean, train dirty ;) Your diet is the biggest key! I know eating clean can be hard, but it doesn't have to be boring !

Not the prettiest picture, but here we have sautéed onions and peppers with corn and green beans on top of raspberry walnut chicken, brown rice, and a mango purée, delightful!!! :) 

Then tonight I enjoyed a pepper, onion and turkey bacon omelet while doing some homework :) 

Get in the kitchen fit fam!! :) 

Clean Eats!

Getting bored with your clean eats and food prep? Here's some ideas to keep it creative! :) 

These have been some of my clean eats recently. 

On high carb days, protein pancakes are the way to go! I'll be honest, I'm not creative enough to find a homemade pancake recipe that I like, so I just use a Gluten Free Mix, with two scoops of Vanilla Whey protein, topped with Greek yogurt and fruit! 

Here's some color! Steamed Zucchini, onion, red peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers, and corn over grilled raspberry chicken on a bed of brown rice, outlined in apple slices :) 

Get at that protein and good carbs! ;) 

Some more color! Scrambled Eggs with spinach, red and yellow peppers, onions, and tomato basil garlic chicken with a side salad. DELIGHTFUL! 

Enjoy Fit Fam! :) 

Motivational Monday!

Hey Guys!

So I know typically Mondays are Squaterday, but I hurt my hamstring, so it needs some rest which means..... Today is Ab Day!!

So for today's ab routine, I did my typical alternating pairs like for my other ab routines, but between each pair I jumped roped 200 times. So.... 

50 Crunches

20 Leg Lifts

200 Jumps! 

20 Rotating Leg Extensions Each Side

20 Sit Ups with 10lbs Weight

200 Jumps! 

45 Second 6 Inch Holds

20 V-Ups

200 Jumps!

15 Barbell Oblique Side Bends Each Side

20 Oblique V-Ups Each Side

200 Jumps! 

Remember, Each of those pairs is gone through twice with no breaks! Get after it! ;) 

Here are some clean eats from the week! 

Giant Omelet! In the omelet is sausage, red peppers, green peppers, and onions. 

Here is Grilled Chicken Seasoned with Salt Free Mrs. Dash's Seasoning. Also with brown rice, white and yellow corn, and fruit! 

Here we have turkey burger with squash, zuchinni, orange peppers, and red peppers. Also apples! 

Here is a post workout breakfast and protein shake! Eggs, turkey bacon, oatmeal, and fruit greek yogurt and    vanilla whey protein shake. 

Happy Motivational Monday! :) 

So behind!!

So I can't remember the last time I posted, sorry guys! I've been really busy packing and getting stuff ready for my move tomorrow. BUT, that doesn't mean I didn't work out!!

Let's see, I had a modified Ab Day Swag Day. I had to house sit/ dog sit for my neighbors, so I did half my workout in the morning, went to work, and finished up when I got to their house and hit the pool to cool off! :)
If was kind of strange to break it up like that, but at least I got it done.

I also got a new watch! So excited. My polar ft40 finally came!!! I love it so far. Still figuring stuff out, but it makes me push myself harder during my workouts. 

(Not bad for arm day ;) )

Killed leg day. Definitely trying to go a lot heavier now with my workouts, especially squats,  and its definitely paying off! 

New legs, new bathing suit, and we're in business! 

(Don't mind my brothers socks on the floor, haha) 

Today was Tear it up Tuesday! Again, trying to go heavier on my workouts and I think its paying off. Seeing small changes, but a little progress is better than no progress at all!

Excited to see a little back progress. Finally starting to bounce back from the labrum tear! 

My Upper body workout today had:

Cable Rows

Lat pull downs

Shoulder Press

Barbell Curls

Hammer Curls

Skull Crushers

Plank Rows

Tricep Kickbacks

Three way Shoulder Flys 

Wide fly Pushups

Military Pushups

Bosu Ball Pushups

Three Sets of everything, Heavy, Until failure!! Get after it guys!! 

Make sure to fuel after though!

After my protein shake, I had 2 Turkey Sausage, 2 Omelets, and Greek Yogurt. Good post workout meal :) 

I said I'd try to get some more food stuff up, so here it starts! 

Kill your Workouts Everyone! :) 

Catch up!

Okay so I've missed a couple days blogging, so I'm going to catch up in this post. So I have two ab days I missed, and a leg day from yesterday.. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little upset that instagram crashed. But just because that is down doesn't mean the blog is! So first of all, happy Ab Day Swag Day! :) I Hope you all are going to kill your workouts today!

Killed abs and cardio really early this morning. So a lot of people have been asking what I do for my an workouts, so I'm going to post my ab circuit from today. Mind you, my routine changes every time I do abs, so this was just for today. First I want to say that no matter how many core workouts you do,you will see no results if you don't eat clean.I am the biggest supporter of eating clean and training dirty. I use to work out and train hard, but eat whatever I wanted to, and didn't see much results, but as soon as I started eating clean and lean, the results were great. Also cardio is a major part in seeing results. So remember, abs are made in the kitchen!






 So my workout today was a 2 mile run for cardio, and here's my circuit. When I do each one, I pair it with another exercise, and alternate them four times non stop, then take a minute break and start on the next pair of exercises four times.
 1st pair
50 crunches
20 leg lifts

2nd pair
1 min plank
1 min boat

3rd pair
40 bicycles each side
20 oblique twists

 4th pair 20 straight leg V ups
25 straight leg hip raises

5th pair
30 physio ball oblique crunches each side
25 lateral barbell bends each side

6th pair
15 physio ball pass offs with weight ball
20 physio ball knee to chest rolls

Finish with a minute and 30 second plank.

So that was my an circuit from this morning, got those abs cookin'! Try it if you're up for it!

 Here is a clean eat for you guys to try. It's a great post workout meal! So the protein shake is vanilla whey Protein, peanut butter, flaxseed, oatmeal, natural honey, skim milk and ice.So good, and full of protein, good fats, and complex carbs. The bowl is steamed Brown rice for more complex carbs, then Greek yogurt with almonds (more protein and good fat), and water in my straw cup. Clean eats for training dirty!

Breakfast!

So this morning I decided to actually wake up and make breakfast, so I made protein pancakes with Greek yogurt and strawberries on top! :)
So I used all natural pancake mix, it only has 0 grams of fat, 4 grams of sugar, and 27 grams of carbs! Add a scoop of your favorite whey protein, and cook up your pancakes! I didn't want the sugar and fat that OS in syrup, so I topped mine with Greek yogurt and fresh fruit. Delicious and super healthy. Enjoy :)

Breakfast! :)

Tired of wanting coffee and not being able to have the sugar, creamer and flavor to make it taste how you like because its not worth the calories, fat content, and sugar to put all the junk in it? Try this! Just take your black coffee and your favorite protein, throw a scoop of it in (mine was vanilla) put it in the blender, and then throw it in a cup of ice! Delicious and super healthy :) I just had oatmeal and strawberries to go with it. Enjoy! :)