Just keep going!

I LOVE this (I feel like I say this a lot, sorry :)!! You see the people on Biggest Loser puking all the time on there first day and they keep going. Of course they are supervised by professional trainer and doctors, but it is just amazing to see what you are capable of if you push yourself!

Carrie Underwood awesome leg workout

So I would LOVE to have her legs! I feel my problem area is my legs, for me it hereditary we have a JayLo booty and huge hips. Which means I always focus on doing good leg workouts. Carrie Underwood has a great leg routine:

Try Carrie’s Signature Leg Workout

1. Back Lunges with a Bicep Curl
From a standing position, step one leg backwards into a deep lunge, then come back into a standing position, while also doing a bicep curl with free weights. Do 15 for each leg for two or three sets.

2. Front Lunges with a Torso Twist
Holding a medicine ball in front on you, step forward into a front lunge, then twist sideways in the direction of the lunge (if you lunge with your right leg, twist towards the right). Do 15 for each leg for two or three sets.

3. Jump Squats
From the squat position, jump into the air as high as you can, landing back into the squat position. Repeat for 20 to 25 reps.

I like to add 40-50 Bridges for 2-3 sets as well. I feel like that helps tone my Jay Lo butty as well. Below is the link to the article where I got all this information. It's an interview with Carrie Underwood and she talks about how she has lost weight and kept it off.

http://www.ahlanlive.com/incoming/article59682.ece/BINARY/carrielegs_1_full.jpg

Nutritional Facts- You need to understand it!

Have you ever looked on the back of the box of a food you are buying? This is your life source for losing weight. Look on the box for where it says Nutrition Facts. There it will give you the information you need to make the desicion if you should eat something or not. It will tell you how many calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars, and protein are in each serving. It will tell you how much a serving is at the top, ie: 7 crackers, or 1/4 Cup of what you are eating. If you are eating out you can also look on the website of where you are going and look for the nutritional information of what you are planning on eating, it takes a lot of work sometimes but it is worth it. So you have all this information, what do you do with it now? Here are the recommended amounts you are suppose to eat each day (this was for my age{24}, sex{female}, weight{130}, and height{5'3''}) It maybe different for you, so you may have to do some research. I just typed into google "How much sodium should a female have each day?" and did that for each catogory. Good luck!

Calories= 2,000
Sodium= less than 2,400 mg
Carbs= 50-100 grams
Fat= under 40 grams
Fiber= more than 40 grams
Sugar= 20-40 grams
Protein= 60 grams

Its ok if sometimes you have more or less than what is recommended the important part is that you are consistantly staying close to them. I felt like I could only handle a few of these so I just picked what I thought was most important for me. I focused mostly on calories, fat, and fiber. If you are mostly eating fruits, vegtables, whole grains, and lean meats it will not be hard to eat with in these parameters. Most of the time at the end of the day I am 500 calories short and need to eat something. Pick and choose what you think is most manageable and focus on those. Good luck and YOU CAN DO IT!

Ingredients- What are you really eating?

Have you ever looked on the back of the box you are buying where it lists the ingredients? This will tell you what food or other things you are putting into your body. I look at the ingredients on EVERYTHING, yes everything I am eating. A general rule I follow is if you can't say it or don't know what it is then DON'T eat it. If you start doing this on all the things in your cabniets that you eat every day you will be amazed at what you are putting into your body. There are so many preservatives, colors, and flavor additives that companies put into their products. Another thing to look for is a shorter list of ingredients. The short and less things the better it is going to be for you. For example triscuits have only one ingredient in them. While wheat thins have a whole long list of stuff added. So according to the nurtitional facts Wheat Thins are best but according to the ingredients it's Triscuits. I always go with the ingredients first and then nutritional facts, but you do what is best for you. I figure it is more important to put a higher quality food in my body than a food with a ton of extra added ingredients that who knows what it will do to me. Another good thing to do when you are buying canned food is to look for the lower sodium options. Many canned vegtables, soy sauce, and soups will have brands that sell no or lower sodium products. Yes a lot of times you will spend more money on healthier foods but I heard in the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" you can either pay more for food or you can pay more for health care. So many of the diseases out there (heart disease, diabeties, cancer, etc.) have been linked to being over weight and unhealthy. I would much rather pay a few dollars more for something that is closer to its natural state than having to pay thousand of dollars for a heart attack but you take your pick. Good luck and YOU CAN DO IT!

I am crazy!

Sorry I haven’t posted in forever. Our computer was broken and it was hard to find one to blog on while it was broken. We have it back now so my post will be every day again. Anyways, I wanted to share something that my weight loss journey has taught me. A few years ago someone told me that there coworker got up every morning and ran 5 miles. When I heard him talk about what this women does every day, I thought to myself "This women is crazy! Why on earth would anyone want to do that. I could never do that." I have thought about what he told me for years now and it really impacted me. I always thought there was no way I could do that. I wasn’t strong enough to do whatever it was that I wanted to do. Now I look at myself today and I am running over 40 miles a week, and I LOVE IT! I am crazy!!! How on earth did I get here. I have turned into one of those crazy health nuts that work out all the time and eat right and is crazy. We all have known them. They do all these crazy races, eat super healthy, and look amazing (though I am not there yet). I see myself turning into one of them and it’s amazing. Why do we (especially women) always sell ourselves short. Like we don’t deserve to have everything in life that we want that will make us truly happy. Why don’t we deserve to have an amazing body, why do we think that we can’t do what it takes to feel amazing. YOU CAN DO IT! We all have those things that we want to do and think there is no way to accomplish it. It scares us to death to just think about it. For me it has been running a marathon. That was how my weight loss journey began.  My sister-in-law convinced me to run a marathon. Now setting your first goal for something so extreme my not be for you. But for those of you who know me I am an extreme person. It is all or nothing with me.  So I set this big goal of running 26.2 miles and set daily, weekly, and monthly little goals of how I was going to get there. Yes, it seemed crazy but now that I’m only 2 weeks away from running it I am so excited and can’t wait for it!  I am pushing myself and boundaries I never thought that I could and I’m learning so much about myself and life in the process. Mostly I have learned that YOU are worth it. You know what your goal is and what that one thing is that just scares you to death that you don’t think you could ever do. DO IT! Set that goal and go for it. It will amaze you how rewarding it will be and how proud of yourself you are. Come join the crazy club with me and push yourself beyond what everyone else is expecting of themselves. You will be so glad you did! I know you can do it!

What Not To Wear?

One great lesson Ive learned is what not to wear all from the hit tv show with Stacy and Clinton. I LOVE this show so much I even bought the book "Dress Your Best" and the app. There all about loving and embracing your body with all it imperfections and dressing for your body or your body type. We all come in diffent shapes and sizes and Stacy and Clinton show you what will look best on your body type. Plus a lot of there tips and tricks will make you look skinnier and slimmer. I use there advice and it helps me hide my baby flab I do have it you just can't tell!! They also show you how to "hide" your problem areas (for me it's my thighs, shhh). I would highly recommend watching this show or checking out there website. They have a lot of great advice to making you feel more comfortable in your clothes.

Everyday is a new day, thankfully?

This week my Sunday was the worst I've ever had. I now understand why moms
always say they don't know why they even go to church each week. My kids
were horrible! Normally they are really good at church and if they aren't
dad takes them because Brian's awesome and knows Sundays are my only
reenergizing day. This week they only wanted Mommy though. My youngest was
crying so loud the last hour we had to walk outside. I only heard about
three sentences out of three hours. Thankfully Heavenly Father knew what I
needed to hear and made those three things just what I needed. I've been
really struggling with consistence lately. Some days I'll wake up ready to
work out and eat right and just go go go. Other days I just want to sit on
the couch all day and look at Pintrest and play solitaire. I keep struggling
that every day is a new day and I have to get up and do the same thing all
over again. As a stay at home mom it's hard because my sole purpose every
day is cleaning house, playing with kids, working out, and making dinner.
That's all I ever do! I feel like I'm a broken record. So my only way of
rebelling is having a messy house, not exercising, and having a hungry
family for dinner.  Which doesn't make anyone, especially me happy. Then
today my vicious cycle of self-pity changed. I got a call from my handsome
hubby, who probably knew I was in a slump.  He told me I needed to have the
kids and I ready when he got home because we were going on a date! So of
course right away I started cleaning, getting ready, and exercising so I can
be ready for my fun night. Then this thought popped into my head "Every day
is a new day" and I thought yay yay I know. Apparently Heavenly Father knew
I didn't get it the first time because it popped in my head again "Every day
is a new day" finally I got it! It doesn't matter what I did yesterday or
the day before that. I can start new today and try to get it right this time
around.  Just because I skipped my workouts and didn't eat the greatest this
weekend Heavenly Father has given me a new day that I'm alive to do a do
over. WHAT A GREAT GIFT! To be alive and have an opportunity to start new.
You can't lose all your weight in one day, that's not how it works. It takes
time and consistency working each day for one goal. For me it's been almost
a year of constantly trying to lose weight. It's been a long hard battle but
with daily practice I've had some success. Every day is a new day and it
doesn't matter what you did yesterday, two weeks ago or even this morning.
We need to start this moment and do what we want to do with our life. And
start thinking Every day is a new day, thankfully!!!!