Archive for March 2013

Alright, if you are anything like me...

extreme long term goals for diet or exercise can be intimidating and usually just set me up to fail.

It's like saying,

"Alright, starting tomorrow I'm going off sugar for a year!" (when you have eaten sugar all your life)

There is no way.

Some people have the will power. I definitely do not.

We don't use the word "diet" around here.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike that word??

Well I will probably tell you about 100 more times.

The word "diet" sets me up to fail.

Maybe you can relate to this.

I love the phrase, "I'm starting my diet tomorrow!"-

Every time that phrase comes up,

I will eat everything I see and stuff my face all night like it's my last supper.

So we don't use that word around here.

How many people follow through with their healthy New Years Resolutions?

I can tell you that the running paths around where we live are seriously lacking.

Why??

Although the desire may be there, I believe people set themselves up to fail by setting unreachable goals.

How to set obtainable fitness goals??

#1. Take it DAY BY DAY

I have learned from experience to set DAILY or WEEKLY goals.

*Example: Instead of saying "I'm going on a "diet" for 2 months," (too long!)

I say "I'm going to "watch what I eat" Monday through Thursday, and if I eat good, I can go get Pizza on Friday." (My idea of a really good prize haha) If I don't eat good- no pizza.

For me, I CAN do 4 days.

I can force myself to eat really good for 4 days if I know I get my favorite thing on day 5.

The same thing goes with exercise.

My exercise schedule intensity-

Monday, Tuesday: Really Intense

Wednesday: Small/ Low Impact

Thursday: Really Intense

Friday: Semi Intense

Saturday: Really Intense

Sunday: Rest Day

Oh how I live for that Wednesday low impact and Sunday rest day!

When I am working out on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday's low impact workout is in the back of my head and I can push through knowing I get a break on Wednesday.

The same goes for the rest of the week with Sunday's rest day.

I have to see a light at the end of the tunnel, or I just can't mentally do it.

You will soon learn that It's a mind game.

#2. Make it REASONABLE.

I am maybe the worst most terrible pushup'er ever.

Seriously. I hate push- ups with a passion.
Maybe it's because my husband wakes up and does like 150 push ups straight, and I couldn't do more than 10.
Ha that will make you feel bad.

I grew up just always doing girl push- ups because I told myself I couldn't do boy push-ups.

So at the beginning of the year as embarrassing as it sounds, I set a goal to get better at push-ups.

I set a goal to do 12 push-ups a day.

(This was a big deal for me)

12! I knew I could do 12.

Photo credit to my husband at 11 PM last night when I threw on my workout clothes for a picture hahaha.

It didn't matter if I did it in the morning, afternoon, or nighttime,

I just had to do 12 straight EVERY DAY.

There were many nights I would be getting into bed and realizing I didn't do my push-ups

so I would hop back out of bed and drop down and give my husband 12. ha

Each week I got better and better.

I added one push-up every couple days, and then 2 and then 3.. now I can do several in a row and I can do the one legged things that I thought only men could do. haha

All because I started out by doing 12 push-ups a day.

#3. Hold yourself accountable.

Goals are nothing if you don't hold yourself accountable.

Maybe the guilty feelings and words inside your head are enough to hold you accountable.

For me, that's sometimes not enough.

I tell my husband to ask me, (whether he likes it or not) if I did my push ups for the day. ha or whatever goals I have set for the week.

Instead of just setting those New Year's Resolutions once a year,

I started setting WEEKLY goals every Sunday.

It makes all the difference.

I sometimes create cute little charts

(because we all know it's more fun to doodle and create a chart then to complete the actual goal)

I love checking it off at the end of each day.

It's a personal accomplishment feeling.

I hang them on my fridge so I don't forget them.

You will find working out and eating right more obtainable if you take these little steps!
For more Fit Friday tips check out my darling friend Jessica's blog!

And lastly I don't think I could end a post without a picture of my favorite little running buddy from our run yesterday.
Don't we all wish we could be the rider of the stroller and not the pusher!
Oh to be little again!
Hope everyone has a great weekend! xo

Growing up, I was brainwashed into thinking that 3 meals a day was the way to stay fit and regular.

I have since learned that is not the case!

When your body is limited to 3 meals a day, you tend to eat more during those meals.
In the past if I was really trying to watch what I would eat, I would force myself not to snack making myself more than hungry for lunch or dinner.
The problem with the "3 Meal a day" method is that your stomach is shrinking in-between eating times.
Shrinking, and then expanding when you take in 600+ calories in one meal.
This causes weight gain.
Hence why skipping meals is so terrible for your body.
(you might think in your head.. "I barely had any calories for Breakfast and lunch, that means I can eat all my calories for dinner!"- WRONG!! So bad for your body! That is like asking for your weight to be a rollercoaster)

Most workout program's meal plans :Insanity, P90X, ChaLean, etc. will tell you to eat 5 smaller meals a day.

Benefits of Eating 5 Smaller meals a day??

1. Keeps your metabolism regular. Trust me, I know how hard it is for women (and some men I'm sure) to keep their metabolism regular. This is huge!

2. It gives you more energy! It's night and day the energy you feel when you are keeping your body satisfied. No more highs and lows throughout the day!

3. You will burn more calories throughout the day aiding in weight loss.

4. It will also regulate and stabilize your blood sugar and insulin levels. To sum this up: When your blood sugar levels spike, it signals to your body to store fat. We want to avoid that as much as possible!

Okay this does not mean eating 600 calorie meals every 3 hours!

It's all about portion control. (Which is a post for another day)
If you eat smaller meals more frequently you will eat less during the "main meals".

The "Inbetweener Meal"
I call the meal between meals the "inbetweener."
For me, this meal happens at about 10:30 AM between breakfast and lunch and 3 PM between lunch and dinner.
I usually sneak in a "6th meal snack" around 7:30 PM because we all know I can't make it until breakfast the next morning without a little snack after dinner. ha
If I know I am going to be out all afternoon running errands or whatever I'm doing,
I NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT A SNACK.
Never ever ever.
I grab some fruit, or a bar, just something to snack on.
I also get really bad headaches if my body goes too long without eating.
These inbetweeners are usually never more than 200- 300 calories.
And BEWARE of empty calories. You will not have more energy if you are eating candy or cheese-nips every few hours and counting that as your "inbetweener" meals. Eat things that will fuel your body!

My Favorite Inbetweeners:

1. Apple (or celery) with peanut butter. I am obsessed. I have this almost every day.

Apples are AWESOME because they are a great natural sugar for your body (fulfilling my craving for sugar) and they fill you up!!!

2. Green Smoothie. I usually just throw in a half frozen banana, some skim milk, a little vanilla yogurt, spinach, and a cutie (yes the tiny oranges- Aaron and I are obsessed with them!) and some ice into the blender. I love it.

3. Yogurt with cut up strawberries and raspberries.

4. A piece of whole wheat bread toasted with peanut butter.

5. Bars- I love fiber one, or special K, my husband is huge on protein bars so he eats lots of those.

6. I have to add this one in- even though it's not #1 on the charts for healthiness (who eats perfect all the time anyway!) it's my favorite:

Graham crackers and milk. I grew up having this every day when I got home from school, and to this day I can go through a box of graham crackers like it's nobody's business. I will be 95 years old and still plowing through graham crackers! I'm obsessed!

**Depending on what I had for breakfast usually my "inbetweener" meal in the morning will just be a cutie or some type of fruit. The most important thing is that I'm eating something little every couple of hours. Around 3 is when I'm a lot more hungry and it tends to be more calories.

Here's to eating all day long!!!

Haha no but seriously, throwing in those "INBETWEENERS" makes all the difference!
For more Fit Friday tips check out my darling friend Jessica's blog!!

**Side note: We have a HUGE reason to celebrate this weekend.

Mr. Ryan is 7 months old.

Makes me tear up thinking about it.

Happy birthday to my handsome baby boy! I love being your mommy!

Happy Friday! xoxo

My last tip (HUGE TIP) for a healthy weight gain during pregnancy is exercise.

I want to first emphasize the fact that my number one priority during my whole pregnancy was to make sure my baby was healthy.

The only time I ever weighed myself was at appointments when I had to tell the nurse what my weight was- our scale here at home doesn't even work! haha
I never counted calories, or tracked what I ate.

That being said,

I exercised and ate right to feel good; period.

I was going to gain all the weight needed to keep my baby healthy.

Working out during pregnancy:
I feel like this topic is SO unproven.
Every body is different and everyone has different comfort zones.
However, here are a few things that worked for me:)

#1. Don't push out of your comfort zone.

I have heard ladies say "I will start working out when I get pregnant".

Pregnancy is NOT the time to push your body to places it's never been.

Trust me when I say-
If you have a hard time having motivation to work out right now-
multiply that "non motivation" by about 100 and that is how you feel about working out when you are pregnant.
It is SO hard to get motivated when you are more tired than you have ever been in your life.

If you followed my pregnancy, I talked about in THIS post that my husband and I were training for our first marathon when we found out I was 7 weeks pregnant.

I was going to be 15 weeks along when the marathon was scheduled.

I had the cutest OBGYN doctor who was really into keeping your body healthy and fit,
so she answered a lot of questions I had.

My farthest run had been 17 miles, and once I found out I was pregnant, I was scared to push myself any further knowing my body had never done that before.

So we decided I would just run the half marathon.
( my body had run that distance a few times and I wasn't pushing to a place my body had never been.)
There is a really really good article on running while your pregnant if you are interested HERE

People ask how I was able to run so far for most of my pregnancy,
Because my body was used to running such high milage during the first couple months of my pregnancy, scaling back for me was running 5 and 6 miles.
This was in my comfort zone.

My doctor gave me the best tip of all,
"MAKE SURE YOU ARE ABLE TO CARRY ON A CONVERSATION throughout your whole workout. IF YOU CANNOT CARRY ON A CONVERSATION, YOU ARE PUSHING YOURSELF TOO HARD."

#2. I didn't just run....

I know I talk about running a lot because it's something I love,
(I would try to run 3 times a week)

HOWEVER, I believe strength training is more important.
Running does not work every muscle in your body.

Strength Training

9 months is a long time!

It's a long time for your muscles to weaken.

Here is the bottom half of my body in that first picture. My baby basketball at 36 weeks!

(There is many ups to pregnancy. One of them was not having to do abs for 9 months and laying on the ground watching my husband sweat it out. haha)

I was determined that I was not going to have to start from ground zero after I had the baby.

I didn't want to lose what (little ha) strength I have!

I also wanted to feel strong through labor.

I have free weights at home, (lets be honest I lift 5 pounders and sometimes 8 pounders haha nothing huge) and twice a week I made the effort to do a strength workout or just use free weights and do one on my own.

Of course, there is a lot of modification with certain weight work outs when you are pregnant,
(not doing abs, not laying on your back and lifting etc.)
but as long as they are light weights you can still do many toning exercises.
Keeping my strength was probably the best decision I made throughout my pregnancy.

Stretching and Yoga.

SO important during this time!

I loved doing yoga. It relaxes you, and puts you in "the zone".
I tried to do yoga once a week or some type of stretching workout.

My husband and I do a lot of workout DVD's at home (P90X, Insanity, ChaLEAN, Jillian etc. - trust me we have done them all.) I know a lot of you go to the gym- for those that DO go to the gym; low impact aerobic classes, yoga classes, spinning classes, hip hop classes- they are all safe to do when you are pregnant! - just modify if something feels out of your comfort zone)

#3. It doesn't have to be something BIG!

(-27 WEEKS PREGNANT- Hiking with the husband!)

I feel like the term "workout" just sets our minds up to not want to do it.

Some days your body will feel great. Some day your body will feel terrible.

The most important thing is that you do something every day.

(33 WEEKS PREGNANT- going out to play tennis with the husband!)

That was my goal. Monday through Saturday (sunday is always my rest day). It will make all the difference.

Some days I was able to run 6 miles, some days I went for a 30 minute walk or did a stretching workout and called it good.

The point of these pictures is to show that you can do anything.
Just shoot to get your body moving every day.

#4. Listen to your body.

The most important thing you can do is listen to your body.

You will know when something is too hard, too fast, or too much when working out.

I loved running while pregnant because they second I felt out of my comfort zone, I could walk for a little bit and then pick back up running when I felt like I was ready.

Your body will actually be able to do most things it can right now in those first months of pregnancy.
The only thing that was different for me, was the fatigue I felt.

Once your belly starts growing, things get a little more difficult but it doesn't mean you can do squats or pushups. It's just harder.

There is a difference between telling yourself something being too hard
because you DON'T WANT to do it,
and something being too hard because you physically CAN'T do it.

I actually think I got stronger than I was before, during my pregnancy.

With the extra weight you carry-

I am convinced you burn 3 times the calories:)

#5. WORKING OUT KEEPS YOU HAPPY!

We all know that pregnancy has a way of turning our hormones up and down and all around.

Us ladies can go from being ecstatic one day to depressed the next.

Working out will make every day happy. I promise.

In my post SURVIVING THE PREGNANCY ROLLERCOASTER

I went more in detail about staying happy while pregnant.

#6. You can eat your cravings and not feel bad!!

(From WEEKS 26 ON I craved these.)

In my last FIT FRIDAY post I talked about the "eating right" side of pregnancy.

However, one of the main reasons I worked out was to be able to eat that slice of pizza when I wanted it and enjoy all my pregnancy cravings to their fullest without feeling bad.

#6. IT IS SO WORTH IT!!!

I will be the first to tell you, working out is HARD while pregnant.

It is not easy.

Pregnancy is the ultimate excuse to "not wanting to work out".

Most days all you want to do is sit on the couch and eat your cravings,

but I promise you if you get out and do something each day- it will be so worth it.

It didn't take long to bounce right back into my regular routine, jump into my old jeans, and feel like my old self after having my baby.

It's all because I made the effort on the days I didn't feel like doing anything.

Hopefully this helps- and gives you motivation to stay active!

It is so good for you and your future baby!:)

Happy Friday!

xoxo