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Facebook wouldn’t let me post this whole thing as my status, says it’s too long or something…. sheesh! Haha! I have always loved this quote of Marilyn’s because there is such truth to it! I hope you’ll take a moment to read it, ponder it, share it, and start believing in yourself and smiling because there’s so much in this life to smile about!
“This life is what you make it. No matter what, you’re going to mess up sometimes, it’s a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you’re going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends – they’ll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything – they’re your true best friends. Don’t let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they’ll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of them – actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can’t give up because if you give up, you’ll never find your soul mate. You’ll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
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A lot of times I’m asked what programs I do, what I eat, how long I’ve been working out and a myriad of other questions so I thought I’d try to put them all in this post for easy reading!
I’ve been working out consistently for several years. Please read my post here for all the details on why and how I got started working out. I truly believe that everyone comes to health and fitness in their own time and for their own reasons. I’m sure you working on yours right now. That’s also why I tell people to never force a friend or spouse to work out. All you can do is be the best example you can be and always invite them to your workouts. They’re going to notice those changes in your mood, your behavior, you posture, your self-confidence, your weight, how your clothes fit…. and they’ll join you, but it has to be in their own time.
I started my fitness journey with Turbo Jam and since then I’ve done a ton of other programs including ChaLEAN Extreme, Turbo Kick, TurboFire, P90x and Insanity the Asylum. Right now I’m doing a little mix and match. For example yesterday I did Back to Core from Asylum and Fire 30 from TurboFire. Today I did Push Circuit 1 from ChaLEAN Extreme and HIIT 30 from TurboFire. Last weekend I did Ab Ripper X and Cardio X. Now, that’s just what I’ve done, but you need to find the workouts that work best for you. If you don’t enjoy your workout, you’re not going to stick with it. Once you find that workout that fits you the best, you’re 
going to look forward to working out, you’re going to want to do more and you’re going to push harder. So spend some time researching, exploring and really trying to find that perfect program for you. I’m always happy to help you in that quest for your soulmate workout!
The other thing people always ask me about is how much I work out every day and that really depends. My goal is always to do weight lifting 3 times a week and cardio 5-6 times a week. I also aim for about an hour of workout a day. Of course some of the weight lifting days are combined with cardio. If you’re thinking that an hour is hard to fit in, scheduling my workouts ahead of time helps SO much in fitting those workouts in. Even if it takes waking up super early or staying up later, or working out at lunch, I make sure to get my workout in.
I’m also asked a lot about what I eat. I wrote a little blog about over here. It’s just a sample of what my days look like, but it varies depending on certain workout programs and daily workouts that I’m doing. If I’m weight lifting I’ll add more lean protein. I also sometimes drink 2 Shakeology shakes a day just because I love them and love drinking them! I also don’t always have dessert, but there’s a good recipe on that blog if you decide to have some occasionally.
I hope that helps! The main thing to remember is that health and fitness is a lifestyle. It’s not something that you’re going to do for 90 days and then just stop… You have to continue the healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life. You’re going to start looking forward to working out and feel drained of energy when you don’t. You’re also going to crave those healthy foods, for me it’s Shakeology in particular, and when you don’t eat well, your body is NOT going to be happy. So work on you- find what works for you and you’re going to see amazing results!
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We just made it through a holiday weekend, but with that weekend may have been bbqs, extra dessert, and maybe too many beers. Did you get off track? Well, you’re not alone! Here are some tips for getting back on track!
just a bad day where we turned to food, but we’ve all had those times where we’ve eaten more calories than our usual allowance. You have two choices… you can either sit there and be angry, upset, and disappointed in yourself, or… you can buck up, move on and get back on track right away! I suggest you chose to get back on track! Being down on yourself is only going to make things worse and you may even decide to turn to food again. Not a good choice! Just remember “Today’s opportunities erase yesterday’s failures.” -Gene Brown
take 2-3 days to work off, so don’t let another meal go by without getting on track. Check out my “Recipes” section for some great ideas on healthy meals to try right away!
intensity intervals (meaning short burst of anaerobic intense drills followed by short periods of active rest). This is max fat burning! Schedule your workouts for the entire week so that you’re sure not to miss one. Make it a non-negotiable appointment!The main thing is to make the decision RIGHT NOW to get back on track. You can do it! It may be tough, but that’s what builds character. You’re going to be so glad that you made the decision to jump back into your healthy lifestyle!
Great changes may not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy. – Bill Blackman
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Yes I did say chocolate chip cookie and healthy in the same sentence! In fact, these cookies are P90x and TONY HORTON approved!
I got this recipe from Tony’s book Bring It! It’s an AMAZING book! People, if you don’t have it, what are you waiting for? Go get it now! Not only does have some delicious recipes including these oh-so-delicious chocolate chip cookies, but it talks about living a healthy lifestyle and how to cut those bad addictions out of your life. It’s inspirational, motivational and encouraging. It has helpful workout tips and routines- I mean this book has it ALL!
Okay, enough yapping (as Tony would say, right????!)
Here is the recipe:
And, yes, that’s a cookie crumb on the bottom left because I was eating one while I took the picture. Yep!
So if you’re looking at this and thinking that the ingredients look a little odd… I promise you, you can find most of these at your grocery store and if you’re missing some, try Trader Joes or Whole Foods. Oh and I left out the cardamom so it’s up to interpretation depending on what flavors you like and don’t like.
The only downside to these is that they are SO STINKIN’ GOOD! Beware the temptation to eat them all in one night, okay? Not that I would know what that’s like… ::insert halo above my head here::
Here’s a picture of my beautiful, delicious cookies, which I’m happy to say, are picky boyfriend approved as well:
It makes a few more cookies than that, but… uh… well… you know! ::dusts halo off, puts it back over my head::
So I hope you get a chance to make these beauties and enjoy them as much as I do… or maybe a little less! 😉
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Make sure you check out Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 of my weekend away!
After our lunch, I took Draco out but I couldn’t find a place to dispose of his…. business. I told Neil I couldn’t find anywhere and he decided to take it and find a trash can (I mean we didn’t want this in our room stinkin’ it up!). So he opens the door and Draco runs out, I follow them aaaand the door closed behind us…. locking us out! So Draco and I waited while Neil went to the front desk to get a key (and of course dispose of the stinky bag)! Draco doesn’t like being confined and I had to hold the squirmy worm the entire time without shoes on… but we made it through and were let back into our room.
After that….. we decided to head out onto our little deck to do some more reading. I had to bring a towel out so Draco wouldn’t have to lay on the hard ground. He liked it!
Well, he liked it until he started hearing other people on their decks. He started barking and wouldn’t stop, so my solution was to put him inside just for a minute or two. We ushered him inside and shut the door. When we were going to let him out, we grabbed the door knob only to find…. it was locked. NOT AGAIN! Right? So Neil hopped over the railing and went around to the front. Luckily, they were cleaning the room next door so at least we wouldn’t have to go all the way to the front desk- the nice lady cleaning the rooms had seen us on the deck.
So I stood up and looked into the room watching for the door to open…. and waiting… and waiting…. and that’s when I noticed that I had, in my door locking paranoia, locked the deadbolt. No way the lady cleaning the room would have that key. Luckily for us (or maybe not so much for me) we had opened the window, the very small window…. I knew it was up to me, so I shoved my way through it and unlocked the deadbolt and let Neil in. I guess Neil and the cleaning lady had both gone out to the deck next door just in time to see my legs disappear through the window. On top of that, the lady thought we were having some kind of argument… You know I was inside locking the deadbolt and Neil was outside.. unable to get in…. Hahaha!
Anyway….. by that time it was about time for dinner! We split delicious salmon and a pasta-y thing similar to gnocchi. Both were very, very delicious! They also included bread with this delicious herbed butter… and yes, I had some and enjoyed every bite!
Our plan tonight was to drive down to the beach to watch the sunset. We weren’t the only ones!
It was so pretty!
After the sunset, can you take a guess at what we did? Haha. Yes, that’s right, built a fire and watched movies! SO relaxing. That’s just something I would not normally do and it was fabulous!
The next morning, we got up “early” so we could have breakfast, pack up and spend some more time at the beach. For breakfast I had the most delicious creme brule oatmeal! Oh my gosh, it was the most heavenly, delicious thing I’ve ever tasted! Neil ate leftovers from the night before (yeah for breakfast….) and got a side of french toast which was crusted with hazelnuts. YUMMY!
We packed up our stuff, checked out and spent several hours reading at the beach again. It was so hard to leave the beach which was full of relaxation and no technology, but… life and reality was calling. What an amazing weekend it was! It was exactly what we both needed- being unplugged and just away from noise and life just for a brief period of time. I came back refreshed and relaxed and ready to get on with my next adventure!