Organization is Key to being Successful!

If you have a crazy schedule like most of us, you may find that it is challenging eating clean, getting to the gym, being a mom, traveling for work and getting all of your regular responsibilities taken care of.  Here are some tips that I use to help me meet my daily goals of staying fit, eating healthy, and staying sane.

1) Prepare your meals for the week ahead of time.  I cook 3 days worth of lunches for my husband and I in one evening so I don’t have to do it every night.

2)  Buy glass containers with lids to store all of your pre-made meals in.  When your lunch meals and snacks for the day are ready to go in the refrigerator, you can just grab and go.   Make sure you get several sets of containers so that you can prepare several meals in advance. 

3)  Pre-pack your gym bag and put it in the car.  This way you have all the items you need so you won’t make excuses to skip the gym.  A step beyond, pack 2-3 gym outfits in your bag so that you don’t have to continue lugging your gym bag back and forth from work to your home.  Be sure to put a plastic bag in your bag when you pack so you can separate your used clothes from your clean ones.

4)  If you have kids, make sure you have all their school and daycare items ready to go and their clothes laid out so that you don’t have to think about it the next morning, especially if you are working out in the morning or if you end up waking up late which is bound to happen to everyone at least once.

5)  If you have a hard time getting up super early in the morning to work out at the gym, but it is the only time you can get there, try wearing your gym clothes to sleep in and have your tennis shoes in the bathroom and your tooth-brush ready to go.  This way, you just have to get up, put your shoes on, brush your teeth and go!

6)  For those of us who have a brain fart and forget to pack our shoes, buy a second pair and put them in your car (A suggestion Andrea mentioned to me today when I told her that I forgot to pack my shoes for the first time and had to walk to my car in my heels and gym clothes- slightly humiliating by the way!)

7) Right out 5 days worth of meals you can prepare for dinner in advance.  If you have meat in your dinner plans, make sure to pull out the meat ahead of time to defrost so that when you get home you don’t have to wait even longer to prepare your dinner.

8)  If you travel, be sure to pack healthy snacks in your carry on so that you can stay on track and continue to eat every 2-3 hours. 

9)  Pack exercise bands in your travel bag as well if you are going to be gone for extended periods of time.  This way you can still work your muscles even when staying in a hotel.

10) Be sure to have healthy snacks available in your home and at work so that you will make healthy choices instead of going to a vending machine or eating something at home that you shouldn’t because you are hungry and unprepared.

11)  Breakfast is extremely important to have every day.  Try boiling eggs and storing them in your fridge and making protein bars or protein pancakes that you can easily store, heat up and eat in a time crunch or on the go. (Stay tuned, I will have a recipe for home-made protein bars and pancakes posted in the near future).

These are just a few ideas to help you stay organized and stay on track.  If anyone has any other suggestions that they use, please send us a comment!  We would love to hear from you!

Karly Beth

Knowlegde is Power when Learning to be Fit & Healthy

Now, just like anything, knowledge is power when it comes to the fitness world.  I am not a personal trainer yet, but I am working towards it.  The information I am sharing with you is available everywhere!  I have read and learned so much from all of this available information, it is amazing!  When you understand what happens when you eat, work out, rest, and so forth, you will begin to understand the benefits of being healthy.  Bodybuilding.com, Tone It Up, Biotest, and Gaspari Nutrition  are just a few great web resources to learn more about fitness that are out there.  In addition to these web resources, I  like to read Oxygen Magazine and Muscle & Fitness Hers which are also great resources for women’s fitness.

So, let me hit you with some knowledge.  Did you know that after the age of 25, we actually start to lose our muscle mass?  According to Oxygen magazine, Adults over 25 years of age lose .5 % muscle each year and we can’t get it back.  So, with that in mind, it is time to get your butt in gear and start working out!  The benefits of having lean muscle mass are amazing and ladies, don’t worry or be scared about getting big and bulky.  We as women cannot be that way no matter what unless you opt to take steroids (sorry, not going there!).  If you take a look at my competition pictures, I in no way look bulky or masculine and I lift weights like crazy!  Increasing your muscle mass means that you will lose the fat, burn more calories naturally at  a resting rate, your energy will increase, you will lessen your chances of injury, you will look amazing and do I need to continue going on? 

Research has also taught me that women completely have the word diet all wrong!  Boy have we given it a bad rep!  The definition of diet is simple, ready? According to my handy, dandy, Webster Dictionary, Diet is food or drink regularly provided and consumed, daily nourishment.  This is the number one description of this word.  Then, below, say on the online dictionaries, you will see the limiting caloric intake, blah, blah, blah.  A diet is not to starve your self people.  A diet, is simply the food you eat to nourish and support your body.  So if this is the case, why are so many women depriving their bodies of what they need to function?  When you don’t eat, or limit the amount of meals you eat in a day, you are actually slowing down your metabolism and letting your body think it is going to starve.  Then, your body reacts and holds onto every bit of fat it can in preparation for the starvation period.  What does it use for fuel, digestion, brain function, everything?  It goes for your muscle which means you will continue to keep storing even more fat!  This is not good, and is the opposite of what you want.

Now, when you eat, and what I mean by eat, is by choosing lean meats, complex carbs, fruits, veggies, dairy and so forth, you are fueling your body.  Giving it what it needs to function.  When you eat 5-6 smaller meals a day you are increasing the benefits of your metabolism.  You regulate your blood sugar which means less mood swings or energy crashes.  By giving your body what it needs, it will not need to hold on to excess food, fat, etc. that it doesn’t need.  It is very much a supply and demand type of scenario.   Eating clean can be a big adjustment, but you will be amazed out how great you will feel.  No more eating out of a box. No more fast foods!  Sugar and high fructose corn syrup are also culprits of bad things we eat.  The soda, candy, baked goods!  So bad for your body!  Did you know that sugar literally halts your immune system allowing you to get sick easier?  I learned this one and couldn’t believe it!!  I have noticed a huge difference in my immune system now that I no longer eat sweets.  Pop, well, I have never been a pop drinker, but that stuff is just bad for you.  Bad, bad, bad!  Makes you fat, rots your teeth, and makes you susceptible to cravings, and a weak immune system!  If you eat fast food a lot, try watching the documentary, “Super Size Me,” by Morgan Spurlock.  You might stop going to fast food places altogether after you watch this one or you might just limit the amount of times you go out to eat.

As for making the choice to take care of your body, I am going to warn you that it is hard work.  But anything that is great in your life is that way.  Hard work, it has to be done!  In addition to resistance training/weight lifting, you need to make sure you are eating clean, drinking loads of water, working out consistently but not over-training, making sure to rest so that your body can recover and repair and lastly, making sure your heart is healthy by cardiovascular training.  Now careful, the last word I just said can be tricky.  Doing cardio, is pretty much a benefit to your heart only.  It can help burn some fat, but you must be very careful with this!  Cardio is catabolic which means that you will end up burning that precious muscle you worked so hard to gain.  What I mean to say is, don’t over do it on the cardio!  If you ever look around the gym, take note of the gals that are always on the cardio machines.  Do they ever look different?  No, not really.  Do all the cardio you want, but you are not going to benefit and burn fat and replace it with muscle unless you lift weights and build muscle!

Now if you aren’t comfortable in the weight area of a gym for whatever reason, don’t be.  This is where a personal trainer comes in handy.  They are certified and educated to teach you the proper ways of lifting.  Even just doing an orientation with them where they walk you around the gym and show you what everything does will be of great benefit to you.  If you don’t want to do the personal trainer, than I recommend teaming up with a girlfriend that is familiar with the gym and the equipment.  This way you can get an understanding of what each weight section and equipment does.  This is exactly what Andrea had me do for her.  I was able to show here around, teach her how to lift and give her motivation and ideas for switching up her routines to keep it fun and keep her muscles guessing.  Use the power of friends to help you reach your goals. 

In reaching your goals, my last point will cover making goals, writing them down and making sure you have a good support system.  By making goals of what you want to accomplish it will give you something to work towards and focus on.  You can track your progress along the way which is a great way to continue to motivate yourself.  Writing your goals down helps you remember what you were out to accomplish.  As you reach each goal you set, be sure to make new ones so that you continue to challenge yourself.  Taking progress pictures and measurements of your body when you first start out and then every 2-3 months can also let you know if you are on track.  Lastly, having a supportive husband or significant other, family, and friends can help make it easier when the going gets tough.  I do this with Manuel and Andrea.  Being able to talk to people and even complain sometimes because you are in pain, really does help!  Friends can also help talk  you out of going to Taco Bell or having a Big Mac by reasoning and reminding you of your goals.  If you know someone who is making the choice to be healthy, please , please, please, be supportive even if you don’t have the same goals for yourself.  Allowing people to be healthy and feel good about themselves should be allowed by everyone and not discouraged.  Be the best version of you and let others do the same too.

The other thing I recommend doing, is simply researching about lifting weights, eating clean, and how your body works when you are doing so.  Once you get a good understanding of how everything works, you will understand why I am so passionate about this subject.  I will continue to write about different areas in fitness but remember, I am just an ordinary gal, I am not a personal trainer yet, but I will be.  I will continue to do my best in sharing knowledge that comes my way.  In fitness and health, knowledge truly is power.

Written by:  Karly Beth

What happens when you fall off the fitness bandwagon, and land face first in cheesecake.

Let me start off by telling you that for one whole month – I was SO good.  I worked out like I was supposed to, and ate like I was supposed to, and drank my water, and then…

It all started with a small piece of cake that turned into a week-long binge that had me eating anything and everything I could find.  Not only that, but I stopped working out altogether.  All my hard work – down the drain.  It wasn’t until I was sitting at The Cheesecake Factory, shoveling pineapple upside down cheesecake into my mouth, when it hit me.  “WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?”

I am not going to tell you that I love working out, I don’t.  I also am not going to tell you that I love to eat healthy food; I would much rather eat a Big Mac.  I will tell you that I feel so much better when I do work out, and I am eating right.  Those two weeks that I was on my quest to eat everything in sight – I was sluggish, bitchy, tired, and unpredictable.  I would have an incredible high after my bag of chips, and then an hour later want to crawl under my desk and sleep.

Working out and eating right isn’t easy, and it isn’t for the faint of heart.  It is serious hard work!  It requires you to put YOU first – which isn’t easy for a lot of us to do.  This is for the people who want to feel good, look good, have a better attitude, and more energy.  It isn’t just something that you “should” do – it is something that you “need” to do.

Life is hectic.  People and places get in the way, but at some point you have to make yourself a priority.  Even if it begins with 30 minutes a day – you can do this.  I can do this.  Above all – it is a choice.  A choice to be healthy.  A choice to be fit.  A choice to have energy.  A choice to feel good.  A choice to get out of bed, off the couch, away from the tv, out of your comfort zone – and do something.  Choose to make your life better, and you have to make this choice – every. damn. day.

Until next time – Andrea