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No More Excuses

Do you ever look at the last year and think really? That was all I had to give? Sometimes I do that. I look back over the last year and know that I worked out 5 days a week, maybe only skipping a day or two here and there due to illness or what not….but I showed up 5 days a week and worked out. I completed the entire body beast program, I did the C25K program, random work outs with the Pop Sugar Fitness girls. And yet here I sit, looking back over the last year and where is the change I wanted to see?

Sure, I can certainly see more muscle definition in my arms, back, shoulders, and legs. But what about my trouble area? You know the area I am talking about. The one that stares at you in the face every time you look in the mirror or see a picture of yourself.

I am not going to discredit myself and say that the last year was a waste, because it certainly was not. I am stronger than I have ever been. I have more energy than I have had in awhile. I have more endurance than I could imagine. Just a year ago, I could barely cut the grass without wanting to die and now I can do the whole thing like a beast.

But what I also have had this last year is a plateau. The scale isn’t budging. It hasn’t budged at all. In fact, due to muscle gain it went up a few pounds. And we can sit here and say all day that the scale doesn’t matter and blah blah blah. But I call bullshit.

I want more.

We all know that abs are made in the kitchen. I do pretty good during the week, but I am not perfect. And the weekends? Well, I end up snacking on the same things that Chris does because it is easy and if he is having cheese sticks, well I should have some too! And I deserve a burger and fries because I have been good all week, right? And a few beers would be nice because last week was super stressful. And pasta? Sure, why not.

No more excuses.

I know that if I do not try harder, and cut more….I am not going to see a change. I am going to stay on this plateau. Just keep being ok instead of being awesome. Because I KNOW that I have it in me. I know that I can do better.

I started making small changes last week. Last night when I got home, I got two awesome packages in the mail!

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I received The No More Excuses book to review. I am so excited to dive in to this! It looks like it has some great work outs and some healthy advice. I will have a review on it when I am done. Also, Mia sent me some Spark to try.

I have been pinning some new recipes, and I want to bring back a 6th day of work outs. I want to get serious about giving yoga a real shot this time. I am going to make Yoga Sundays a thing. Alyssa, Tracy and Kristen have all encouraged me in some way or another and I think I am ready.

I also plan on cleaning up the eating even more. I have lots of room for improvement, especially on the weekends. I plan to do just that. I think I am finally in the right mindset of needing to fuel my body with better things to feel better. It has taken forever to get here, but I am here.

So I am linking up with Training for Tuesday because I am on a new training plan. Healthy insides makes for a healthy outside! No more excuses!!! Who is with me?

alyssagoesbang
April 28, 2015 by
fitness, goals, health

Goals

For the month of February, the Choose Your Own Adventure theme was “create.” I declared then that I would probably fail, as I usually put my creative projects on the back burner for more pertinent things. Let’s take a look at how I did.

1. Create a completely new to me recipe with something that I do not have much experience cooking. I try lots of new recipes, but they usually revolve around the same basic ingredients of chicken, beef, turkey, mexican, italian, or asian food. I want to branch out even more.

I started playing with my spiralizer this month and created three vegetable noodle dishes. That counts for something, right? I made Asian Zoodles, Sweet Potato Noodles with Sage and Turkey Meatball Zoodles. I only give myself half credit because I was trying to attempt to cook with shrimp and that didn’t happen. 

2. ?? I am in the middle of designing something that I will share at a later date. It needs to be done in the next week or two so I am putting it up here to hold myself accountable.

This was the update to the Magic City Bloggers website. It was completed and looks awesome! Chris did the work though, with me just saying I like that and don’t like that….so does this really count as a goal I accomplished. Absofuckinglutely. 

3. Work on a DIY project for my office decor. 

LOL

4. Create a DIY project piece for the gallery wall.

LOL

5. Create a work space in the office area.

LOL

Now, I did do some things that were not on the goals list. I completed the rest of my research on purposeful houseplants and have started drafting my blog post for it. It was A LOT of research and I am trying to decide if I want to break the post up or have one large one?

I also did research on nutrition and macros. That took up all of my “creative time” and I deem more important!

This month’s theme is relationships. There is one relationship that I have that is very unhealthy. I have to work on starting to correct it this month…

1. Food – My relationship with food is the worst relationship that I have. Food is comfort, food is a reward, food is something to do when you are bored, food is socializing with friends. Food should be none of those things.

This month I am going to work on retraining my brain to see food as only nourishment for my body and eat accordingly. I have broken down how much protein, carbs, fats and calories I need each day and that is that.

2. Me – I am my own worst critic. Aren’t we all? After I finish my current book, I plan to read The Body Book by Cameron Diaz. I learned about this book through Erin who said that it really resonated with her.

3. Marriage – Chris and I are pretty good about staying unplugged for the most part when we spend time with each other after work in the evenings. I plan to continue this 🙂

4. Friends– Plan a girls night for March.

Are you linking up to work on your relationship goals for the month? I plan to do much better with these than my create goals from last month! I am not off the hook though, I still need to complete those projects too!

Life According to Steph
March 5, 2015 by
fitness, health

The Benefits of Lemon Water

Yesterday I mentioned that I am back to drinking lemon waters in the morning. Some of you asked what benefit I get from it other than my water having a flavor. I decided it would be a great post topic.

With anything, what I am about to say could be considered hokum or poppycock by some. However, there have been many studies and claims on the subject. I also believe that sometimes if you believe in something, then it works for you too! lemons

 

 

Lemon water…

-is an excellent source of vitamin C, it also contains: citric acid, magnesium, calcium, potassium and phosphorus

-is known as a toxin flush

-balances the pH levels in the body

-aids in digestion

-helps nourish brain and nerve cells

-provides natural energy

-strengthens the liver

-replenishes body salts after a work out

-reduces pain and inflammation in joints as it disolves uric acid

-helps in the prevention of wrinkles and acne on skin

-helps fight eye problems

-gives the immune system a boost

-serves as a powerful antibacterial

-freshens your breath

-supposedly aids in weight loss

-stops UTI’s

-reduces phlegm

-promotes healing

Some have asked how much lemon to use? I did some research and it looks to be based on weight. If you are 150 pounds or less, you use half a lemon. If you are over 150 pounds you want to use an entire lemon.

Now if that isn’t enough reason to start, I really don’t know what is folks! Are you going to try this? I would love to hear your thoughts after a week or so. I have been telling everybody to do this.

January 22, 2015 by