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About Me…

I am not a fitness lover. More of a fit this pizza into my mouth lover, but I have always dreamed of having that beach body that you see with other women. Then I came to the realization that my body may never look like that, and I need to be fine with that. However, I can exercise and stay fit and be healthier!

I am also a Registered Nurse, who works nights. Yes I am that vampire that sleeps all day and stays up all night. I cannot complain because I love it, and would never make it on the morning shift.

Now night shift (3rd shift); does come with its own set of issues such as forcing your body to work against its own circadian rhythms, breakfast/lunch/dinner times are completely off and you suffer from severe sleep deprivation; but one must learn to cope instead of throwing in the towel.

This is just like exercise. Will you have days that you just can’t get to the gym, or really do not have any time, or choose sleep over exercise? Yes, but that is fine as long as you don’t give up and completely throw away all of your hard work.

I am here to help share my struggles and journey and to help motivate you to keep your body in shape and stay healthy despite your schedule. I cannot promise I know it all or the exact cure but I will promise to help with the motivation. I also expect you to comment to help others with their motivation!

So let’s get started towards a healthier life together!!!!

You CAN have your cake and eat it too!

So I am a very self conscious person, and hate looking in the mirror. Since I started losing weight I was afraid of gaining it all back. Therefore, I cut out desserts completely. I would say no thanks to candy, cookies and chocolate. However, I never stopped craving it. Well I learned I dont have to cut out sweets but just eat a small portion.

Its call Self-control….no I am not perfect but I remind myself how much better I feel since I have lost the weight.

We have to have faith in ourselves that it’s ok to have some fat, not everyone is perfect and not all bodies can slim down to 115 lbs. But it’s ok!! Life is short, and guess what….everyone’s looks fade so enjoy yourself while you still look young.

Oh and eat your cake!! Just like I did today for my birthday!!

We can’t all look perfect…

So this week was rough and I had to convince myself to keep pushing. However, I did it and made it to Saturday!! Let us recap my workouts:
(FYI I bought a resistance band….only $4 at 5 Below!!)

Monday-Cardio & Yoga

Tuesday-Resistance Band video & Yoga

Wednesday-Cardio & Yoga

Thursday- Yoga

Friday- Resistance Bands & Yoga

So I have learned through this journey that is not always about how we look, it is about how we feel. When I look in the mirror am I happy with what I see, no I can find something I don’t like about myself but can’t we all? Even when we see that tall, skinny, blue-eyed blonde walking down the street I bet she could find something wrong with herself too. The problem is we let the world decide what is pretty and this is unacceptable. Not everyone can weight 115 or 120 lbs; aka me, do you see my boobs? I would look ridiculous being that small, but I do now fit into a size 8. I have not been able to wear a size 8 since high school. Now, that is impressive. So celebrate the little successes because wellness is about being emotionally happy too. We need to stop being so hard on ourselves and start to think positive.

So, incase you are following along today is Day 12 (Saturday) with Yoga

I encourage everyone to try this challenge! Adriene is amazing and is so upbeat and positive. I love it and love her energy, to the point that I look forward to doing my yoga everyday.

Volunteering

Instead of just sitting around inside doing homework and going to the gym, per my usual day off I decided to do something different and volunteer for the American Red Cross. I helped out during a blood drive today and even was able to donate blood myself.

It was such a rush of accomplishment that I felt when I came home. Sometimes it is not always about the working out and staying thin. You also need to work out your mind by doing something you love and something that decreases your stress.

I think we often forget that working out for the body is just as important as keeping our mind healthy. Now this does not mean you have to volunteer, maybe just pick up that book you have wanted to read and start it or go see that movie or show you have been dying to watch. Take care of yourself emotionally because no matter how good of a shape your body is in, if your mind is overworked and stressed than you will still have illness and poor health.

https://www.redcross.org/

If you want to volunteer go to the above link and click volunteer or you can donate your blood. Did you know that one bag of your blood will go to help save three people’s lives? Pretty amazing what we can do 🙂

Yoga Day #8…

Loving my new yoga matt! It is very inspirational. Sometimes you just need to have fun with your exercising. Is it going to be hard work? Well, yes but you can do it. We can do anything we set our minds to. It just changing your state of mind. Don’t look at exercise as a chore, look at it as part of your life. Do it daily and it just becomes routine. Love what you do and do what you love. Oh and did I mention have fun!!

Recap of the week…

Every Sunday I like to recap what I have accomplished for the week in order to help me understand what I need to focus on the following week.
Here are my goals for the week
Cardio-Walk/Run with my dog Blue (Goal: 150 mins or more)
Resistance-Two non-consecutive days of muscle strengthening
Flexibility-Continue my 30-Day Yoga challenge

CARDIO
-Blue and I walked for at least 30 mins each day (maybe missing one day this week…but we are all allowed a cheat day)
-Some of this included running but mostly fast pace walking due to the extreme heat in NC
-Therefore, I say that I met my goal of cardio for this week!!
-Next week I need to add a challenge…..ANY IDEAS???

RESISTANCE
-Below I have attached the youtube video that I found for this week
-It only takes 10mins (if you can’t find 10mins please let me know why….I want to hear this….)
-I did this three days this week (mon, wed & fri), and even though it is only 10 mins I can feel my abs hurting
-Let me know how you like this video 🙂

FLEXIBILITY
-If you follow along you know that I am doing a 30-Day Yoga challenge
-Now I am new to yoga and have never done it before and I am loving it
-It has become something that I look forward to do everyday verses something that I am dreading that I have to do
-I am currently on Day #6 (I have attached the video below if you want to learn more)

So please leave your comments and let me know fun ways you have found to exercise that you have fallen in love with! I am always looking for new challenges and ways to work out that do not feel like a chore 🙂

Going walking..

What do you do when you are put on call…you take your dog for a walk. It was short lived because I was called in an hour later but hey at least I got a little exercise in, and Blue loves to walk.

Day #5 with the yoga challenge

Day 5: Feeling Alive 🙂

Can’t believe I am already on day #5 of yoga. Time is just flying by,but that is because I am enjoying it so much. I hope you are still following along and doing this challenge with me.

I feel so relaxed and full of energy after each yoga session. I am surprised at how strong fit I feel just after 5 days. I also went on a run with my dog today to get in some cardio because I like to change it up a little to work different muscles in my body. Plus if I even hint about a walk/run my dog is at the door waiting. He is a good motivator 🙂
Let me know any thoughts you have about yoga 🙂

Only 7 minutes….Everyone has 7 mins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVG-geWTsA4

This is an amazing 7-min workout you can do at home. This will help with cardio and resistance training. You don’t need the weights you only need 7 minutes out of your day. If you can’t find 7-min….I want to hear why?? Did you come up with something??

I loved learning about this workout. It is so simple yet it will work your body. I know you are probably saying how can 7-mins work your body….well give this workout a try. You can go at your own pace. Just time yourself one minute for each move! You can do it I have faith in you. I love it, but don’t just take my word for it. Let me know what you think about it?

Behind…

So my goal is to write everyday but like life I got behind and have not written since Tuesday. I also got behind on my Yoga challenge, however in the spirit of things I am not going to beat myself up about missing one day. Yoga has been an amazing flexibility work-out and I plan to stick to it and finish the 30-days.

My hope is that this post inspires you to not give up and continue your goals no matter how far you get behind. Everyone had to start working out somewhere and I am sure they failed or took a day, week or month off but they continued eventually. That is inspiring in itself.
Lesson here: Don’t beat yourself up, instead reward yourself for the things you have accomplished and the steps you have taken to reach your goal 🙂

Yoga Challenge….

So I have decided to do a 30-Day yoga challenge! Not only does it meet my resistance requirement for my PE class, but I am really enjoying it as well. I started two days ago, so today is Day #3! I am proud of myself for sticking with this and I am very hopeful that I will do it until Day 30.
Please feel free to join and and let me know how it is going for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqGHWXjgn-M
I just save the day I am on to my home page as a reminder so above I have attached Day #3. If you want to start at Day 1, you are more than welcome too, but keep me posted on how much progress you are making.