Shut Out the Negativity - Speak Life!

I had been walking through a cloud of negativity for years.  Most of this negativity was centered off fear, fear of being a statistic….that my marriage will just be another percentage on the divorce statistic, that my job will eventually just become another number on the unemployment statistic, that my health would become another statistic at a hospital. Fear was ruling my life! My thoughts were focused on the bad and the relentless complaining that came out of my mouth just led me further down a path I hope to never go down again. Have you ever noticed that when you think and speak negatively about your life that everything begins to crumble around you? It’s like a cyclone, downward spiral – these relentless negative thoughts that are slowly chipping away at your self-worth, your happiness, your direction. I have personally dealt with negative thinking for years, and for years I struggled with where my focus should be. When you transform your mind, you can transform your life. You may have doors closing left and right, you may feel like nothing is ever going to change that you are stuck in a rut with no energy to get out. Until you begin speaking life - speaking hope into your situation; you renew your thoughts and mind to a more positive perspective. You have the ability to soften your heart or another’s heart with the words that you say. You have the ability to make a healthy conscious change in your life.  It is all about YOUR perspective.

Everyone experiences a rollercoaster of emotions, up and downs and days where everything falls apart. This is where the confusion sets in, you have no idea where to go, which direction to go, what to think and so you sit in your own negativity and despair.  If you begin to think of the words you say as doors to compassion, the light to life, the transformation of our thoughts – you can change your day to day.  What will happen is a new sense of hope and renewing will start occurring in your life. You will begin to love and appreciate differently.  You will begin to walk and lift your head higher; you will experience joy that will overflow into the circumstances of your life. Try not to think or say a negative comment for 24 hours, then 3 days, then a week and see how your life changes. See how your perspective changes. God did not create us to be mundane, day-to-day, depressed, negative people. We each have a gift, share yours – don’t let negativity get in the way.  You are important and your words hold value!

 

 

4 Sure Fire Ways to Break a Weight Loss Plateau

 

4 sure fire ways to break your weight loss plateau in just 7 days or less! I have found that when I am constantly counting calories and restricting food groups from my daily intake, that is when I tend to fall off the wagon. We all want what we cannot have, right!? No amount of exercise can make up for a poor diet. Now, let me elaborate on this, what I mean is once you have gotten down to a goal weight or hit a plateau where you cannot budge the scale you have to start looking at what you are fueling your body with and not just at your calorie deficit at the gym. Plus, to create those long lean muscles and have energy we need to be feeding our bodies whole, natural foods.

Below are some tips and guidelines that if followed could be the solution to breaking your weight loss plateau. It will not be easy and will take some discipline, but our bodies respond quickly to small adjustments that we may never consider. So give these 4 tips a try for 7 days and see if you are able to break past the limits and push yourself further toward your goals.

1.       Allow a 12 hour window between your last meal of the day and your breakfast the following day. What does this look like? Well, if you eat your last snack or meal at 7 pm then you should not eat your breakfast until 7am. Your body does not want to go to sleep on a full stomach and needs those 12 hours to digest and burn – not what is currently in your stomach from that food you ate while walking to bed, but the stored fat, etc. You can drink as much water as you would like, but if you have your breakfast at 6 am, then after 6pm only water should be on your menu. If you do this you will wake up feeling more energized and refreshed!

2.       Switch up your MACROS! Macronutrients are the sum of the different fats, carbs, and proteins that make up your daily consumption. Now, all of us are programmed differently and our bodies will respond differently to different intake levels of each group. Track your current macro percentages and consider switching up the charts. For example, if you are more carb dense and that takes up a large percentage of your intake, consider upping your good fat intake and replacing that with the carb totals.  I saw great success when I upped my HEALTHY fat intake. It never hurts to switch things up for 7 days to see how your body responds!

3.       Limit your natural sugar intake.  Okay, I am not talking about processed sugar, because that should not be a part of your daily intake. Whole, natural, unprocessed foods are what your body needs. When I am talking about limiting your sugar intake, I am talking about natural sugar. I think that we forget that too much of a good thing can still be bad, especially if you are trying to break a weight loss plateau. Limit your natural sugar to consumption to only 2 pieces of fruit a day, or about 25-45 grams.

4.       Last, but not least switch up your exercise, if you typically do cardio then do some strength training. Throw in some plyometrics moves you have never done, go rock climbing, go roller skating, do fun outdoor activities that will switch up your daily workout regimen. This will allow you to work different muscle groups and also work your heart at a different rate then it may be used to. Have fun finding a new workout to incorporate!

Give these a try and report back or message me with your results! I bet you will be surprised!

 

21 Day Fix Week 1 - AMAZING Results

Challengers are 1/3 of the way through the 21 Day Fix and I am truly astounded with the results so far. Before I get into the specifics on weight loss and measurements, let me review what the program is about a little bit.

The program consists of 7 workouts that you repeat 3 times for a total of 21 days. The program includes color coded containers that you associate with a specific food group. This takes the guess work out of ensuring you are eating the correct portions and getting the right among of protein, healthy fats, vegetables and fruits. At first, the task seemed a little tedious to come up with a meal plan, but it was really quite simple. Below is a sample meal plan from one of my challengers, she is consuming between 1500 to 1800 calories a day on this program. She has really come up with a simple plan and easy way to map out her meals. Click on the image below to see it larger:

Workouts:
7 workouts on 2 DVDs (VHS not available)


Dirty 30 workout**


Total Body Cardio Fix


Upper Fix


Lower Fix


Pilates Fix


Cardio Fix


Yoga Fix

All of the challengers have described the feeling after the workouts as sheer muscle exhaustion, 'jell-o arms' or jell-o legs :). The workouts are fast paced and really target one muscle group at a time to produce effective results. 

For more information, what this quick video:

  

Now onto the RESULTS - let me start by saying two of my challengers struggle with hypothyroidism and have been stagnant with their weight loss for a very long time. The challengers are a variety of ages and at different points in their fitness. Each video has a modifier and since its only 30 minutes it is totally doable. 

Female, age 28 - 
Day 7
3 LBS LOST!
3 INCHES LOST!
She has hypothyroid and has struggled with getting weight off since her second child, but has been able to stay on track and accountable and is doing fantastic so far!
Female, age 36 -7 day weight and measurement stats: 

Starting weight: 189
Day 7: 181
8 LBS LOST!
Measurements: 

LOST 2 INCHES IN ARMS
LOST 1 INCH IN CHEST
LOST 1.5 IN WAIST
LOST 1 INCH IN HIPS
LOST 3 INCHES IN HIPS

8.5 TOTAL INCHES LOST!
One challenger said

'I jumped on the scale this morning to find myself down 3.7 LBS after 5 workouts/days. Yippie!'

Female, age 42:
13 days on the program
LOST 2.5 INCHES ON CHEST 
LOST 2.5 INCHES ON WAIST
LOST 2.5 INCHES ON HIPS
7 LBS LOST!
7 INCHES LOST!


Last but not least, is Nicole. She is 29 years old and was diagnosed with hypothyroid and has been struggling with her weight since. She is lethargic and before 21 Day Fix had been working out everyday and eating well, she had lost 4 pounds in a matter of 8 weeks before starting this program. She is now on day 7 of the fix and here are are her results so far:

Starting Weight: 107.2lbs
7 Day Weight: 166
LOST 4.2 LBS!

LOST 1.5 INCHES WAIST
LOST 1 INCH ON ARMS
LOST 1 INCH ON LEGS
LOST 1 INCH ON CHEST
LOST 1 INCHE ON CHEST
5.5 INCHES LOST TOTAL!!!

She lost more weight and inches in 7 days on The Fix then in 2 months trying other food plans, she has been persistent and stuck to the plan. She was the one who created the meal plan posted earlier in this blog. She is really inspiring and I cannot wait to continue to share her results. She is determined and motivated ~ NICE WORK NICOLE!

Thinking about buying The 21 Day Fix? February is a great month to do it, 1. because it is on sale - $70 savings, 2. because this month is the Beachbody cup and it would mean a lot to myself and my team if you decided to take the leap this month. Take a look at the flipogram below to learn more about Shakeology, the Fix and the Beachbody cup :). To order Click Here!!

P90X3 Week 6 Progress

I used to believe the myth that as a woman I should not lift heavy weights, or even lift at all - boy am I glad those thoughts did not stay with me. I used to be the girl on the treadmill, then the elliptical, then the stair master. I needed to burn calories! I figured out very quickly after completing Chalean Extreme, that I needed to lift and go heavy to boost my metabolism and lean out the way I was wanting to. Week 6 involved heavy lifting and my muscles are definitely CONFUSED. Every part of my body was sore at some point this week.  I increased the weights I was using (something my past me would have been hesitant to do), last week I was using 8-10 pound weights, this week I increased to 10-15 pounds. My push up and pull up form have improved significantly and I am able to do 2-3 reps more of each. I got on the scale this week and was absolutely shocked, not by the number on the scale but by the .6% body fat percentage drop from last week. This was a huge victory for me in the fact that it allowed me to throw my old unhealthy - weight loss tactics to the way side, I am seeing first hand that lifting weights does not make you bulky!

I want to go into more detail regarding the workouts in Block 2 for those of you who are still on the fence about whether P90X3 is the right program for you, so here you go:

Day 1: Eccentric Upper
- This 30 minute video involves various pull-ups, push-ups, and exercises that fatigue your triceps, biceps and back . All of the moves are based on slowing down the negative motion of each exercise. For example on the pull bar you would start in the full pull-up position and lower yourself down slowly and then pull-up quickly. Or each push-up you would lower down slowly (3 seconds) and then push up as quickly as possible. Completing the exercises this way allow you to focus on having great form, also eccentric exercises have been credited to challenging muscles up to 30% more than regular exercises which produces much faster results! Every exercise in this video was completed this way, so after this workout my arm muscles were twitching the rest of the day. Killer!

There were 3 types of eccentric push-ups completed in this video. The first was a standard push-up, the second was a military push-up and the third was a staggered push-up.

A military push-up involves keeping the elbows close to the rib-cage, so it targets the triceps much more then a standard push-up.

A staggered push-up involves having one arm graze the ribcage in military style, while the other arm does standard. This requires you to stay very rigid in the core, working your abs. I am still not able to do this completely true to form - hopefully by the end of the the 90 days I can!

Day 2: Triometrics
- This 30 minute video involves 3 levels of one exercise and each is completed for 20 seconds. There are a lot of balance related moves in this exercise. I really liked this program because you had three levels to choose from, let me tell you I was having to do the modified version of each exercise for almost the entire video. I did not want to compromise my form so even doing level 1 or 2 of each move left me very sore. Cannot wait until I can do the whole 30 minutes completing the hardest versions of each move!

Day 3: X3 Yoga-
- Wednesday yoga is something I absolutely look forward to each week. At first, I was unsure if I would want to do yoga each Wednesday, but it really what has helped with my tight muscles. I can stretch and increase my flexibility to create longer -leaner muscles. The routine is NOT easy and I am hoping that one day (in the far future) I can do some of the advanced moves with Tony.

Day 4: Eccentric Lower
- Again this involves focusing on the negative movements but it is all lower body. Squats, forward lunges, side lunges, leg extensions, calf raises, bridges and several other exercises make this video extremely effective. Form is very important in this video to make sure you are not injuring your knees. Bands or weights are used - and you definitely can go heavier here because you are using some of your largest muscles groups.

Day 5: Incinerator
-  The name of this workout says it all! You are going to burn, burn, burn your muscles until you can barely eek out one last rep! The video goes through a sequence of exercises, working opposing muscles groups to exhaustion back-to-back. By the end I could not do another full push-up or pull-up.....burn out!

Day 6: MMX
- This was a fun workout! I was punching, jabbing, kicking and crossing my way into a sweat. This video involved a lot of sprawls so prepare yourself. Sprawling, is like a burpee, except you put your chest all the way to the group and then jump up completely into a standing position. If you like marital arts or MMA fighting you will definitely enjoy this workout.

- Day 7: Rest or Dynamix
I decided to rest this week, but Dynamix essentially is very low impact exercises and mostly stretching type moves that will get your muscles just warm enough to get some deep stretching in.

Onto Week 7!!!