Couple Things....

Okay, so first things first...I have found a few comments on my blog posts that are incredibly inappropriate.  I don't think any of you are putting them up...I think they're from some kind of hacker something.  I just wanted to bring it up because if you have seen them before I've been alerted and deleted the nasty comments, then I apologize and I in no way support those comments.  Alright, that's done.

Now for the other thing.  I think I focus too much on what I haven't done yet instead of what I have accomplished.  During the Burn Phase of ChaLEAN in March, I was rockin'!  14 pounds in 4 weeks - more inches than I can count on both hands - going down three notches on my belt (needing to use by belt!) - building some strength again (hello push ups on my toes!!!)....and then April's Push Phase happened.  Now, it's not that the Push Phase isn't good - it's amazing.  But instead of doing a self high five and saying to myself, "14 pounds!  You are awesome!" I focused on my not yet flat tummy and my still non-brazilian booty.  Where did that get me?  Well, let's see...skipped workouts, nutrition cheats EVERY day and no movement on the scale.  I have talked about this before, and I need to start listening to myself.  It's time to pat myself on the back.  It's time to stop looking at where I THINK I need to be, and instead focus on doing the work and being happy with what that gets me. 

Are ya with me? 

Oh, and I'm thinking of breaking up with my bathroom scale and only weighing in at my Weight Watchers meetings.

Court

What.

Is Up?

So I've been neglecting my blog.  I've mentioned it before that when I put too much on my plate, I just abandon my plate.  I didn't think I was trying to do too much these past couple of months, but I guess I have been between my workouts, working my GEICO job, my personal trainer class, working on my Team Beachbody coaching, blogging and trying to keep up with my friends and family.  I've been getting a bit overwhelmed which leads to me doing the cut and run.  So I'm slowing myself down a bit - two things I must do every day other than keep up with my peops are A) live the fit life by working out and eating clean and 2) blog about it. 

Well, I fought that stupid "But I don't wanna workout" monster today.  I just don't get how I can be uber gung ho until about 2:30 in the afternoon, and then that ridiculous voice pops in my head and I just want to curl up on the couch and snack on non-fit life snackies.  Oy.  What is that about?  But I pushed past that LAZY voice, and got my workout done (and did not snack on loads of little chocolates).  Even when that LAZY voice hung on through the whole workout - I kept on going.  I just kept reminding myself of how great it feels when the exercising is OVER.

In other news, I'm getting some sweet calluses on my hands from lifting weights.  I'm actually pretty proud of 'em.

So how are you?

Court

Progress Update!

Hello hello! So I am so excited - I have finished a solid two weeks of ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Phase which means I have pushed play on my workouts EVERY DAY! Yeah baby! And I have been drinking my Shakeology every day too (more on that tomorrow). Yesterday was my measurements day, and I'm pretty excited about the results so far so here you go:

Weight: down 6.7 pounds
Bust: down 1/5"

Tummy pooch: down 3" - woot woot!

Hips: down 2"

Upper thigh: down 1" each leg

Lower thigh (just above the knee): down .5" each leg

I didn't lose any inches on my arms, but I'm seeing more definition so I'm happy with that. And today I did 10 push ups on my toes before having to modify to knee push ups. Love it! Two more weeks of Burn phasing, and then I'll move on to the Push phase.

Overall, I'm feeling great. My clothes are fitting more loosely which is awesome. I am fighting the exasperation of the part of me that wants instantaneous results, and gets discouraged when I'm not immediately "glamazon buff woman." Just have to keep pushing through and doing the work - the results will follow!

Keep pushing play!

Court

Utter Mortification

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, but I've been nursing my wounds. And by wounds, I mean wounds to my self-esteem. At the time, it was AWFUL, but in the end it has pushed me to workout and eat clean every day since so maybe it's a good thing it happened? In the words of Monk, here's what happened:

Location: Personal Trainer Class

When: Thursday, March 11

Small back story: So I may have developed a mini crush on a guy in my class. Just so happens we have managed to become partners in class. Normally, this is a good thing. This was not a good thing on Thursday.

The mortifying story: My teacher comes in to class with a huge grin on his face, and a pile of little flat boxes in his hand. He says, "We're learning how to do body composition testing today! And we're going to practice on each other!" My heart sunk. If this was last year, I would have said, "Let's go!" But this wasn't last year, and we all know I've put on a bit of weight these past few months. I briefly considered developing an illness that required me to go home, but I wasn't fast enough. And you guessed it, my crush turned to me, and said, "Come on partner!" So getting to know each other involved him pinching the fat on my tricep, thigh and tummy pooch to find out just how much fat I have in my body. At least I'd worked out for the previous five days so I had an ounce of oomph in me to survive it. Overall outcome - I have about 20% more than he does, and I wanted to run home to hide under the covers with a monster bag of peanut butter M&Ms.

The silver lining: Instead of turning to M&Ms, I phoned a friend and we ended up laughing at the ridiculousness of 'the incident.' And seriously, do these things just happen to me??? Also, instead of using this as an excuse to give up, I've been using it to push myself through my workouts and make good food choices. I now have a full 10 days under my belt - woo hoo!

Have a great night!

Court

Negative Input

There is a lot of negative talk out there, and it's hard not to listen to it. You eat unhealthy foods, stop exercising and gain weight - you get a negative response from your doctors, and your pants. Granted that's a helpful negative response, but what about the flip side? You start making healthy food choices, working out and losing weight, and then you start getting negative jabs from random people. I think they're jealous negative jabs, but come on!

Here's what happened to me today:

While sitting at work, just minding my own business, I decided it was time for a snack. So I pulled my apple and almonds out of my bag, and thought, "Yay me!" Then this woman in the building walks by me, and says, "Look at you eating your apple! Where's your donut? You should be having a donut instead - ya know, all slathered up in butter. Yeah, you need a donut." Are you kidding me? What in the world is up with that?! Now let's reverse it - say I was eating that donut all slathered up in butter, do you think she would dream of saying I should be eating an apple instead? Good grief, it's hard enough to tune out my own negative self talk.

What kind of negative talk do you have coming at you? What do you do to ignore it?

Court

Intensity Trumps Impact

Welcome to Training Tuesday!

I'm sure you can tell from the title, but today I'm going to talk about high intensity versus high impact workouts. And no, they are not the same thing. You can have a serious kick butt workout without going high impact. What is high impact? The most basic definition is jumping and running - both of your feet are leaving the ground. What is high intensity? Putting all of your energy into your workout. So what's best? (No peaking at the post title!)

Using Turbo Jam as my example, let's look at it like this - I am committed to a high impact workout, but my punches are wimpy and my kicks are lackluster. Every punch is missing extension, and looks like I'm knocking on a door instead of knocking someone out. My kicks look like leg wiggles or toe taps instead of solid kicks. But I'm jumping so this must be great right? WRONG! Sure you're working, but you are not working as hard as you could be, and the bad form could lead to unwanted injury.

What you could be doing: I'm rockin' it with a low impact version of Turbo Jam. Instead of jumping, I'm getting low in my squats, I'm punching with fierceness and my form on my kicks is stellar! No injuries here, and the sweat is flying off me - it's actually kind of gross, but it's my proof that I'm rockin' it.

This happened to me just yesterday. I was doing Turbo Kick's Best of Volume 6, and my shin splints really started acting up, and my arms felt like jell-o because I had just totally pushed it to the max with ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Circuit 2. At first, I felt the need to push the high impact even though my shins were screaming. Then I realized that my form was lacking, and my punches were pithy. Oh no! So I took the impact down, and guess what? My workout got BETTER! Yeah! Without the shin pain, I was able to push harder on intensity. And guess what else? I still burned a ton of calories!

If you want to go high impact, and your body allows you to do high impact workouts, then just make sure you use high intensity too. Go all out and make it count! Just don't sacrifice your intensity for a high impact workout because you think it's better. Shoot first for a level 10 on your intensity whether it's high or low impact, and you'll be amazed at the results!

Here's to the fit life!

Court

Success Tip Sunday!

Okay Fit Lifers, what would you say are your top three reasons for not making healthy food choices? Mine would be stress/emotional triggers, boredom and plain ol' laziness. Yep, I'm admitting it - plain ol' laziness is one of my down falls. Well, today's success tip is all about beating the laziness. Our world today is so about instant gratification and convenience that there's a fast food joint on practically every corner. Yikes! What to do, what to do? Well, what about making the healthy choices more convenient?

Seriously, take an hour out of your day on the weekend to do a little food prep. Make your lunches, pack up snacks and wash your fruits and veggies so they're ready to eat. Here's what I've started doing in my kitchen:

*One of my new favorite snacks is 2 Wasa crackers, a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese and a half cup of grapes or a half a banana. So where does the food prep come in? Well, the banana is easy, but I pre-wash the grapes and then divvy them up into half cup servings in plastic reusable containers. Now, I have a grab and go serving of grapes. With the crackers, I divvy up the package and put 2 crackers in each sandwich bag (and since it's just crackers, you can reuse the bag and be green!).

*Another snack: carrots. I pre-wash and prep the carrots, and divvy them up into single servings too. Then I only shave carrots once a week (side note: if shaving a LOT of carrots at one time, don't put the shavings down the garbage disposal - I speak from personal experience.) You guessed it, just grab and go. A good idea is to put some water in the container with the carrots so they don't dry out.

*Lunch time! Just like the grapes and crackers, I pre-package my lunch. Here come those reusable containers again. I also make one big batch of chicken for the week instead of worrying about cooking every night. Now come lunch time, I grab it out of the fridge and pop it in the microwave. Heck, you can always heat it up in the oven too if you don't really like microwaves.

So when does all this food prep come in handy? How about when you've overslept, and you just don't have time to make your lunch and pack up snacks? This way, you open your fridge and grab what you need. Give it a try.

Check in tomorrow for Motivation Monday!

Court

Fear of Carbs

Well, I'm officially on my way to being a Certified Personal Trainer. I'm taking a class at one of our local gyms here in Anchorage, and so far it's amazing. We met with a registered dietitian on Thursday, and it was a fantastic two hours of discussing nutrition. I took away some great points about nutrition, and one of those was the fear of carbohydrates.

It's hard to not be weary of carbohydrates with all of the hype around them. People worry about eating fruit because of the carbs, people forgo bread because of the carbs. People want results and they want them now so they go to the extreme and cut out the carbs. I've been there. I tried the South Beach Diet in college. I made it a week and a half, and finally had to stop because I was having trouble concentrating in class or even understanding basic concepts. Write a paper? Not happening. When I bailed on the South Beach, I joked that I had to stop because it made me stupid. That's not as outlandish a statement as I previously thought.

Carbohydrates are THE energy source for your brain. Yep. And not only that, carbs are the primary energy source for your working muscles, ensure your nervous system is functioning properly and helps the body use body fat more efficiently. Want a good workout? Grab your carbs as they are the primary source of fuel for your workouts. Seriously. Keep this range in mind: 55-65%. That's the range of your caloric intake that should be from carbohydrates.

Mind you, these should be good carbohydrates, i.e., oatmeal, whole grains, whole grain bread/pasta, fruits & veggies. If you want to cut out carbs, the cut out the white bread, white flour, overly processed cookies as those really don't offer any nutritional value. Don't fear carbs, just be smart about 'em. :)

Happy Tuesday!

Court

The 5AM Workout Experiment

I am not a morning person...at all. When that alarm goes off I can justify more sleep over just about anything. Why I have decided to start getting up early to do part of my workout before the work day is beyond me. I guess it's because I have an easier time sticking to my clean eating guns if I get a bit of a workout in first thing. It's easier to pass on the sweets cravings by telling myself that I wouldn't want to waste my early morning hard work.

I did successfully manage to roll out of bed this morning with time for a 30 minute Cardio Axe (ah-shay) from Brazil Butt Lift. Here's how it went:

5 AM: Alarm starts ringing, I stumble across the room, hit the snooze and fall back into bed.

5:04 AM: Second alarm starts beeping. Repeat previous stumble.

5:10 AM: The first alarm goes off again. Why am I doing this to myself? Oh my gosh, I should just keep sleeping a little bit longer. But it would only be another 30 or 45 minutes...how much of a difference is that much sleep going to make? But I love sleeping...and my bed is so cozy...and these are lame excuses. Just get up already!

5:12 AM: I finally get out of bed.

5:20 AM: Workout clothes are on, water glass is full, and I am pushing play!

5:23 AM: What am I doing? My body doesn't like to move like this so early. Maybe I can just curl up on the floor....

5:25 AM: You know, this isn't so bad. This is a pretty sweet way to start the day.

5:50 AM: Workout is done. I feel awesome!

And that was my 5 AM Workout Experiment. I'm going to try it again tomorrow. This will get easier...right?

Court

Lost...and Found

I've been feeling a little bit lost lately. I can't put my finger on it exactly. Is it just getting used to my life in Alaska and getting situated again? Is it missing teaching my Turbo Kick classes? Is it facing another set of holidays without my dearest Nan? Maybe it's all of it, but I do know that I need to stop focusing on the negative and start looking for the positive in the every day. Why is it that I can rave reviews all day at work, but it's the one negative comment that just repeats over and over and over in my head? Silly? Yes!

Instead of zoning in on the bad parts of the day, I'm going to start writing down at least three things that make today great. It could anything from getting back in touch with some friends I've been missing this past year, but didn't quite know how to open up to them about why I kind of dropped out of touch. I know, you pick up the phone and dial, but I pretty much dropped out of touch with everything for awhile. I had friends who didn't let me disappear, and others that just didn't know what was happening. But there's always time to get back in touch...and hopefully they'll understand and welcome me back with open arms. Or maybe it is as simple as a good movie, an awesome work out or just something that really makes me laugh.

So today is my first day of looking at the positive again. I think it's going to be great!

Court

It's Not a Diet...It's a Lifestyle Change

Ok, so I'm not a huge fan of Day 4's exercise in motivation from this 100 Days of Weight Loss book. It talks about recognizing your "narrow road" for losing weight, and your "wider road" for weight maintenance. For some reason, my first instinct was to write ice cream on the wider road column...but that's why I'm back at the beginning of this whole process AGAIN. I get to my goal, and jump on the "I'm thin and healthy! I can eat whatever I want! Pile on the ice cream! I don't need to work out anymore!" And then I'm not at my goal anymore. Ugh. And double ugh.

My opinion is that you should just have your healthy road. Throw in the extra yummy stuff in moderation, but just because you're nearing your goal doesn't mean you should suddenly switch gears and just go nuts! My goodness! I have no intention of ever going back to my old way of eating. Food is fuel, and having a cheat meal here and there is okay with me, but I'm sticking to my clean eating plan for life. Limit the crap (processed foods), increase the good foods (fruits, veggies, whole grains), get in the exercise and there you go. Once I reach my goal, then I'll be able to eat more of the good stuff, and cut back on the cardio. But that's really going to be the only change for my weight maintenance. I've never actually maintained so that in itself will be quite the adventure.

Stop thinking about being on a diet and depriving yourself of the foods you enjoy. My weight watchers leader in Oregon would always say to give yourself two small bites of something if you really want it. That first bite is the dynamite bite, and the second is the "oh yeah, that's good" bite. After that, it's really not as exciting. It's true for me!

Have a great Monday!

Court

Get It Done

Today's exercise in motivation is a continuation of the last post in regard to being interested as opposed to being committed to your goals. There isn't a magic formula. It's simple: When you are committed to reaching your goals, you just get it done. Take your mood out of the equation, and just focus on getting the job done.

Why is it that exercise is almost the one thing that consistently gets the boot because we're too tired or not in the mood? There are other things in my life that I do on a daily basis even if I don't feel like doing them. You know, going to work on a Monday, putting my make up on in the morning, take a shower, etc. My friends will tell you that the days of me without make up are few and far between. It's not that I wake up in the morning excited to go through the routine of getting ready in the morning, but I just do it. There's no question that I'm going to do it (unless I've hit the snooze or turned off my alarm and wind up with 2.2 seconds to get out the door!) I just need to focus that same "get it done" attitude to working out!

Here's an interesting list for you from 100 Days of Weight Loss by Linda Spangle that might a bit eye opening.

People who are interested in losing weight

• Stick with it until something better comes along
• Take action only if they "feel like" doing it
• Need to see results in order to stay motivated
• Blame people or circumstances for their struggles
• Easily give up when they face challenges

People who are committed to losing weight

• Stick with their plans no matter what
• Take action whether they feel like doing it or not
• Assume that if they stay motivated, results will follow
• Take responsibility for their own actions
• Keep going in spite of challenges or setbacks

What category do you fall under?

Court

Decide. Commit. Succeed.

These three little words mean so much, and the key word is commit. I'm sure you've decided many times over that you want to change your life...and I'm sure you've decided what it is that you want to change in life just as many times. I know I have. Just being interested in making a change isn't enough. You have to commit yourself before you can get anywhere near succeeding.

So what exactly does it mean to just be interested? Well, you work your plan when it's convenient. When something else sounds more fun, then to heck with the plan! You know what I'm talking about. ;) You depend on the results to push you, and once the results start to slow, then you start to "cheat" just a bit more here and there until you have crossed state lines right in to Off the Plan Land. (Yes, I just came up with that all by myself! Self high-five!)

What then does it mean to be committed? Well, not to steal Nike's catch phrase, but when you're committed to your plan, you just do it! No questions, no stupid excuses...you just stick to it no matter what. So you have a little cheat one day - it's not the end of the world when you are committed to your goals because you just keep going. When you don't have enough time to work out, you make time. When you don't have the support to help you, you find the support (I'm always available). When the results slow and you hit that plateau, you change things up and blast right on through!

So what's it gonna be? Are you ready to commit? I know I am! Today's exercise is to write down some different ways that I am going to stick with my program, no matter what. Here's how I am committing myself.

I am going to change into my workout clothes as soon as I get home from work before I even have a chance to find something else to do.

I am going to guzzle the water even if it means duct taping my water bottle to my hand so that I stop leaving the house without it.

I am going to stop thinking that it's me against the world, and start reaching out to friends when I need help.

I am going to make sure I get plenty of sleep at night so that I have more energy through out the day and less chance of the after lunch slump.

One last thing....HAPPY FRIDAY!

Court

The Past is the Past

Day One of my 100 Day Challenge is here! And today's exercise in motivation is about letting go of past failures because they really mean diddly squat. Yes, it's true...just because you have failed in the past doesn't mean you are going to do the same this time around. The key is learn from those past failures. Be aware of them, and figure out what you're going to do to have different results now.

The first step is to identify the negative behaviors that have hurt your success in the past, and then decide on a different ending. The book, 100 Days of Weight Loss, uses the phrase, "I used to ______, but now I ______." Here's my list of five.

I used to get overwhelmed by stress in the middle of the day, and the first solution would be chocolate and throwing healthy eating out the window, but now I remind myself that living a long and healthy life is really important to me. Instead of reaching for chocolate, I take a quick walk outside to get some fresh air and give myself some time to clear my head.

I used to use being tired as a lame excuse not to exercise, but now I tell myself to just do at least 15 minutes. If I'm still feeling blah after 15 minutes, then I can stop and get some rest. (Chances are I won't still be feeling blah.)

I used to set my expectations of success at being perfectly on plan (which usually ended up with me going in the complete opposite direction of said plan), but now I pay attention to the progress I am making, and give myself high fives for the small accomplishments along the way. If I fall off the success wagon, then I just dust myself off and keep on trying.

I used to get overwhelmed at the idea of living the fit life for the rest of my life (I really love chocolate), but now I'm learning that being healthy does mean that you can eat chocolate and other goodies in moderation. Eating just a little bit does not mean a free for all pass for the chips and salsa.

I used to get discouraged by my ultimate goals (and I don't even know if they were good goals), and give up because it's TOO hard, but now I take it bit by bit. I just focus on 5 pounds and one dress size at a time, and once I'm there I reevaluate where to go next.

How about you? Do you have any negative behaviors or past beliefs that are holding you back?

Court

100 Days of Motivation

I've been hanging on to this book 100 Days of Weight Loss by Linda Spangle for a few months now. What is it? Well, it's pretty much a 100 day workbook to get yourself in the right directions of your goals. It's geared toward weight loss, but I'm pretty sure you can gear it toward any goal. My goal is to move my life in a healthy and positive direction - the fit life if you will. I know I can get myself a bit overwhelmed sometimes (and try too hard to be perfect)...and then I just run and hide from it all. Yes, kind of like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. Now I've tested this tactic many times, and it most certainly doesn't make you healthier, or make your pants any baggier, or have you miraculously wake up one morning in the best shape ever.

So what better way to dust off my little motivator book, and actually get through the 100 days than to put those 100 days up here?

Now for the only rule: Under no circumstance am I allowed to start over at Day 1 if I miss a day. Ideally, I'll make it through in 100 consecutive days. If I miss one, then I just pick up where I left off. I can do this!

Check back tomorrow for Day One!

Court

Week Two Begins

Alright, so I made it to Weight Watchers this morning. Hooray! And it was a success! I'm down 2.2 pounds from last week so that takes care of last week's gain, and takes me down another 1.4. Instead of snippiness from the weigh-in lady, I got a smile and a "good job." No five pound star this week though...argh! But next week, I will get one for sure!

Oh, and this one woman reached her 10% goal today so she got a key chain. And let me tell you what, I want my own key chain! It's not just any ol' ugly rubber key chain - it's bronze, in the shape of a 10...it's lovely...I want it. Only 15 pounds to go until I get one.

So since week two of my ChaLEAN Extreme program starts today, it's time to for my weekly wrap-up. This way I can learn from what worked for me last week as well as from what didn't.

What went well, and why? My workouts were excellent. I feel good about the amount of weight I used, and the intensity I put into the workouts. This was probably so easy because I love Chalene and her workouts.

What didn't go well? What got in the way? My eating plan wasn't so great. Now, I don't mean that I didn't make healthy choices all week, but I just wasn't comfortable with my plan. When I've been my fittest, my plan has been a big breakfast and lunch, shake with veggies & fruit for dinner, and 3-4 small snacks on hand for the rest of the day. I tried something a little bit different this week and tried to trim the snacks down to just 2 bigger ones (about 200 calories) per day instead of 3-4 100 cal snacks. This wasn't good - I had to fight the evil chocolate voice more and I just felt hungrier. I'm going back to the smaller snacks this week.

What is the most important insight I gained about myself this week? I can still do push-ups on my toes! I may have lost some of my strength, but there's hope!

What do I plan to do differently this next week? I already touched on this, but I'm reevaluating my food plan. I'm going back to more snacks!

Court

All or Nothing

I am so the all or nothing type person...well, used to be anyway. Alright, fine...I'm a work in progress. :)

Do you remember that post a few weeks back about giving yourself credit? Well, good news! I'm listening to my own advice, and giving myself credit for yesterday because I missed my workout. (Boo! Hiss! What?!?!?!?) Life got in the way...and by life, I mean negotiations with the seller of my soon to be perfect lil' condo. (That's a story for another day.) So I missed my workout, and will be fitting it in tonight on what would have been a lovely relaxing rest day.

Now, here's the awesome pat myself on the back part: I stuck to my eating plan instead of taking the missed workout as an invitation to snack (aka bingefest!). I'm really quite excited about this. And what I'm even more excited about is the fact that the little voice who screams "Chocolate!" at the top of her lungs only piped in a couple of times through the evening instead of being a constant bother.

So maybe I'm not so all or nothing anymore. ;)

Happy Friday!

Court

Keepin' It Real

What? Two blog posts in two days? This girl must be crazy! No, I'm just trying to make up for my lack of posting this past couple of weeks. :) Forgive me yet?

Anywho, I have a confession to make. I have put Insanity on the back burner until the new year. I'm not giving up, but I am being honest with myself. As much as it pains me to say, I am not in as good of shape as I was just a few months ago. I could blame GEICO for making me live in a hotel for three months or the fact that I've flipped my life completely upside down with changes in just about every area...or I could just fess up: I lost my focus.

Getting that focus back hasn't been very easy. I have a love/hate relationship with my Insanity workouts - just getting through the workout is amazingly hard. And my shins are usually screaming at me after just the 15 minute warm-up. Not to mention the excuses are so much easier to come up with! I'm too tired, I have a headache, I am feeling bummed...you get it. So I was trying to figure what was going on with me so that I just wasn't living up to this program. And then the answer came via a facebook post from my fitness idol Chalene Johnson. She posted about your "soulmate" workout - that workout that gets you excited and keeps those excuses at bay because it's fun! And if exercise isn't fun, then you aren't going to do it! I've been proving that point for the last month.

So what's a girl to do? I'm not enjoying my exercise, and that same exercise is wreaking havoc on my poor shins (and yes, I'm terrified of the return of stress fractures). There isn't a low-impact option in those Insanity workouts. Then it hit me: ChaLEAN Extreme & Turbo Kick. My soul mate workouts. ChaLEAN Extreme offers the weight training (lift heavy + fewer reps = amazingly doable) and Turbo Kick offers the amazing cardio. And there you have it! I'm back on my game! :)

Today is Day 4, and I'm happy to say that the last three days have been great. Good clean eating, great workouts...I feel like myself again. It's amazing what happens when you set yourself up to succeed.

Court

Going With the Flow

Okay, so confession time. I missed my workout last night - but sometimes it just happens like that. I got home from work, threw on my workout clothes and was just tying my shoes when my phone rang. It was Randy...he was coming over to fix our smoke detectors as this morning they all decided to start beeping in unison in strange intervals. We don't have a ladder in the house, and the main detector upstairs is up on a pretty high ceiling. Ugh. And yes, one of those detectors was in my room...where I get my workout in. So off came the shoes, and back I went in to normal clothes. At first I was annoyed, but he was doing us a huge favor so I decided to just go with the flow. I could always get it in when I got home later, right?

So then I headed off to girls' night, and was having such a great time that soon it was 9:45pm. Yikes! Where did the time go? Yeah, so no workout. But all is not lost! I broke a habit/excuse that I usually get in to: I miss a workout, figure all is lost and so I quit. Well, not tonight! I ate my healthy dinner before going out, had water while I was out (yes, I know, the waiter loved me!) and didn't throw in the towel.

This is an accomplishment for me. And remember that post about giving credit where credit is due? Well, I'm giving myself credit. Yay me! And I'll just switch this missed workout with my rest day coming up and all will be good.

Happy Friday!

Court

What Motivates You?

Last week I mentioned that we shouldn't be motivated by results, and I believe that with every little muscle fiber in my body!

Here's what happens to me when I'm motivated by the results:

• I have a good weigh in, and I get cocky. I think, "Yay! I'm made it! I can let up a little bit!" So I skip a workout here, eat a Snickers bar (or two) there, go out to eat and order whatever from the menu...you get the idea. Funny thing, being healthy isn't a race with a finish line, it's a lifestyle.
• I don't have a good weigh in, and I get depressed. I think, "Hmph! I've been working hard and this is what happens? Well, I'll show you!" Okay, so maybe I don't consciously think "I'll show you" but that's certainly what my actions say. I throw in the towel because I wasn't getting anywhere anyway. I'm not spiting anyone but myself either. Why not look at the fact that my jeans are looser, and I feel better?
• I hit the end of my program, but don't get the same results as other people. Well, of course, the next thought is that it must not be the program for me! Back to couch potato mode I go saying "Well, that didn't work." Why not just keep on going like the little engine that could? I am unique - I'm not going to have the exact same results as someone else.
• The weight doesn't come off as fast as I want it to so I quit trying. Now this is down right silly. In what other part of life does not getting there fast enough warrant giving up and turning around? So you hit traffic on the way home from work and don't get home as fast as you want to, what do you do? A) Turn around and go back to work. B) Turn on some good tunes and go with the flow because you know you'll get there eventually. Yeah, I know, B!

Does any of this sound familiar? It's a vicious circle of defeat (that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense), and we need to change our approach. I'm not saying that you can't want to change your appearance, but I am saying that for me, it cannot be my sole motivation to eat healthfully and exercise. If it is, then I know I'll get there just as I know I'll end up right back where I started soon after. What are some things that I use as motivation now that I've flipped the switch?

• Working out gives me energy!
• I am happier and have more confidence.
• I feel more in control of my life.
• I feel more like an actual participant in life and less like I'm hanging out on the sidelines.
• Clean eating and working out = automatic stress buster.
• Keeping my cholesterol in check.

Those are just a few for me. What about you? What's on your list?

If we do the work, then the results will follow. When they do, celebrate them - whatever results they may be!

Here's to living the fit life!

Court