Long but good read

Make sure its worth itLONG POST ALERT

Everything’s in your past. It’s behind you, learn & progress forward….

The weekend is coming and I’m making plans not only to stay on track, but make progress. I need to after traveling last week and being off my normal schedule for a couple of weeks.

Trust me, I will still have FUN and live *balanced* not perfect.

And believe me, I think it’s necessary and HEALTHY to splurge once in a while – if you’ve seen my “typical day of eating” that’s available on my blog, you know i’m not a perfect eater anyway and I certainly DO enjoy a drink or two when it’s worth it….

…but it’s NOT worth it to me to splurge REGULARLY or drink REGULARLY (every weekend or every night as some do) to be my best as a mom, wife or business leader and I certainly could not perform at my best PHYSICALLY if I did that.. (do you even KNOW how much alcohol slows your metabolism for the minimum 10 hours that a standard drink is in your system and how it affects your nutrition absorption and energy/performance the next day!?!) so it’s just not worth it to me. I have to constantly remind myself of that because it’s SO easy to just give in because everyone else is doing it and because it seems like a GREAT idea at the time!

And then you have everyone and their brother saying “live a little”… Me: “believe me dude, i’m living” I drink and splurge when it’s worth it! But that makes others feel guilty and they’ll make comments, so do your thing and pay no attention.

NOTE: I’m NOT talking about the 1 glass of red wine at night with no added snacks, or the daily small piece of dark chocolate, or your 1 piece of cake annually, or 1-2 drinks on a special date night (but skip the bread!) ..that’s all good & not an issue in my opinion.
So I really hope this isn’t misinterpreted.

But if you can eat whatever you want, drink when you want and have 2 or more every time, and you still excel in your personal life, in your career/business and make progress on your fitness goals too, GREAT (and if that’s the case, you either have amazing genetics, you don’t have kids, or you’re under the age of 30..lol).. but that’s not me and maybe that’s your reality too.

Years ago when I was personal training a girl a couple times a week after work, I was frustrated that she wasn’t getting results even though she was working out HARD and tracking her food… a few years later, I saw she had lost about 20 pounds and looked AMAZING. I was so happy for her but also dumbfounded.. why wasn’t *I* able to help her see that transformation? So I asked her “what made the difference for you?” She said “I gave up my Peanut Butter addiction and I stopped drinking. I was drinking every night”. OMG.. she never mentioned the PB addiction nor that she was drinking every night. But that was the culprit!! Drinking is FINE but too much will cause SIGNIFICANT delays in fat burning for at least the next 10 hours, not to mention empty calories and most lose their inhibitions and eat what they want, reduced nutrition absorption, fatigue, sometimes depression and addiction (which causes a whole other list of problems), and more.
We all have different goals, but if you know you need to make a tough change or break a habit, do it!

The struggle will be REAL but the reward will be BIG!!

Aim for new goals that make PROGRESS.
And DO NOT GIVE UP when it gets tough.

I’ve learned I’m happiest when I feel good about my relationships, my lifestyle, and my accomplishments and those accomplishments don’t happen without pushing thru slip-ups, unexpected obstacles, and making some sacrifices that others probably are NOT willing to make.

You have to decide what’s MOST important for YOU to focus on.

Let’s be real with ourselves, make a commitment and follow thru on it so you can be at YOUR personal best.

Sound like a plan???

Be the best you

When do you drink your shake?!

Kale Salad and ShakeOI shared this on my IG and like page and I’m SHOCKED at the # of people who are struggling with what they eat after work and in the evenings and they haven’t tried this yet. It’s worth a try, right?

What’s your biggest nutrition struggle & what are you doing (that’s working) to fight it?

Just getting back from the Leadership retreat, I needed to make sure nutrition was on POINT today 🎯 I do best in the evening when I have a salad & shake for dinner. If you have a small salad followed by superfood shake satisfying your chocolate/sweet craving, you might find your nighttime snacking/cravings are no longer an issue.

This was a kale salad with turkey burger from the grill, tomatoes & avocado with chocolate PB Banana shakeO 👍🍅🍃

Whats your go-to HEALTHY snack?

Fit SnackThis is one of my FAVES when at home –

  • 1/2 toasted ezekiel english muffin (found in most freezer sections of your grocery store)
  • 1 hard boiled egg
  • 1/4 avocado
  • pepper to taste

Let me know if you try it!!

10 Tips

What person, comment or incident got you into working out and/or eating better?? What advice would you give someone just starting out??
***Here are 10 tips that helped me stick to it:
1. After eating a small meal, get out of the kitchen. Your body needs time to digest & realize it’s been fed!
2. Continually work to drink more water
3. Have a ballpark awareness of calories and macro’s MY particular body needs to gain muscle yet still burn fat (this took trial & error)
4. With your eating & workout weaknesses, aim for progress each day, not perfection
5. Ignoring the scale & paying attention to how I look and feel; how i’m performing in my workouts and the new habits i’m forming.
6. Becoming a Coach and making fitness & health my career
7. Transitioning the family to healthier options so I wasn’t alone
8. Curbing snacking/splurges (shakeology)
9. Doing workouts with variety and workouts I enjoy!
..and 10
HAVING PATIENCE & TURNING OFF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

Daily routine

Stuffed Hard boiled Eggs

stuffed hardboiled eggs5 minutes to make, 20 minutes to get them to look pretty for you
Plz tell me they look pretty?!

This was my lil awesome snack! Hard boiled egg, remove the yolk & fill with Chunky Guacamole made by Earl’s (got it from Whole Foods ) then top with the yolk you removed & if you prefer, some Pink Himalayan Salt & pepper. Approx. 200 calories & nutrient-packed!
Perfection

Grilled Chicken Nachos

grilled chicken nachosYum or yuk?!

We bought these sprouted quinoa & sprouted chia, Sweet Potato Chips at ‪#‎WholeFoods‬ (made by “Simply Sprouted Way Better Snacks”) and made Grilled Chicken Nachos with them!!

1 serving of chips, Grilled Chicken, Horizon organic cheddar cheese, tomatoes, 1/4 avocado and a dollop of non-fat plain Greek Yogurt pretending to be sour cream

Cucumber Avovado Snack

Cucumber Avocado Snack

Thanks to my sis Chalene Johnson!! These were great!!

See my sister’s Instagram acct for a quick video on how to make them. You can view it even if you don’t have Instagram.

Cucumber, avocado with lime, quinoa & chicken
Cucumber Avovado Snack

Fit Snack

Fit SnackYes?? No??

This is half of a toasted Ezekiel English Muffin (sold in most Grocery Stores’  freezer section because it has no preservatives), 1 hardboiled egg & a little avocado and spicy mustard.. yummm! This is approximately 200 calories & 9g of protein!

Superfood Bites – Chocolate Peanut Butter

Superfood Bites - Chocolate Peanut ButterWould your family eat these?!?

They’re amazing!! Perfect for a snack/dessert or pre-workout snack!

Superfood Bites – Chocolate Peanut Butter

1 cup Quick Oats (or 2.5 pckgs instant oatmeal works)
1 cup “Just Great Stuff” crushed peanut powder (Amazon)
1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
1 Scoop or package of Chocolate Shakeology
2 full droppers of Sweet Leaf Stevia (or use 6 packets or your favorite way to sweeten)

Wash hands & remove jewelry . Mix all ingredients into large bowl. Spoon out a golf-ball size amount and shape into balls or whatever shape you like. Put into FREEZER (best when they’ve been in freezer for about 2hrs). Ready to eat straight from the freezer (may take 1-2 minutes to thaw enough to eat).

Appox 80 calories and 7-8grams of protein each.

Sweet Potato Snack

Sweet Potato SnackIs it still helpful to see ‪‎foodspiration‬?
I wanted a ‪Quest Bar‬ this afternoon but opted for this nutrient packed ‪sweet potato‬ snack/dessert instead… it was FANTASTIC

It’s the insides of a small baked sweet potato (we baked a bunch this week) plus a few dashes of cinnamon & nutmeg, a couple tiny drops of Vanilla Sweet Leaf Stevia (found on Amazon.com), all mixed together and topped with ‪‎TruWhip‬ (a little healthier alternative to whipped cream–not all stores carry it). The sweet potato can be hot OR cold:)