I've been using a fitbit tracker since 2013 & I am a huge fan of these bad boys. I have not been 100% consistent with usage (it tends to go in phases) but when I am utilizing this little piece of technology there are huge benefits. Back in the summer of 2013, I was in serious wedding preparation mode. I was on a strict diet (I followed Nu Skin's AC program- no longer available but they have an improved version here), I was doing 2-a-day workouts and a walk in the evenings- averaging about 20,000 steps per day. Those 20,000 steps is pretty dang close to 10 miles a day- nothing to be ashamed of. Since the wedding, my steppage has seriously declined. I could make all the excuses in the world but it doesn't make up for the lack of physical activity!
I'm working on changing my ways- here's how & the reasons why:
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I'm sorry that like all of my posts as of late are food related... but abs are made in the kitchen right?? I've really seen a difference in body since I've been focusing more on my foods (I'm still all about that sweaty exercise life though). I love sweets, so I've been trying recipes that have less sugar, less calories, less fat and still delicious. It's a never ending battle. #amiright? I have a lot to do and a lot to improve on, but each day is a step in the right direction. Right? How delicious does this look? It tastes just as good. It's rich and yummy with only 220 calories and 12 grams of fat. Remember to only eat one :) They're rich enough that one will be just enough! Recipe from Sweet and Skinny Ingredients:
Directions:
The other day as I was popping around the internet, I came across a website called, A Newtrition Life. It looks like a start up website, so there isn't much information on there quite yet; that being said, I ran across a "rule" that I thought was brilliant! I'm don't know enough about stages of fat burning in the body, but I loved the idea of timing your meals. Honestly, this is a pretty simple concept and I'm not sure why I didn't apply it before! This new 'schedule' has helped me to not snack as much (although I still struggle in the afternoon) and to avoid extra dessert calories. So here it is- 4 meals per day, 4 hours between each meal, and 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. I set an alarm on my fitbit- as soon as that thing went off I got to eat (yay food!) Seems simple enough, right? Breakfast: 8 am Lunch: 12 pm Hearty Snack: 4 pm Dinner: 8 pm My foods for this week: acai bowl & homemade granola, tilapia with brown rice & corn and tomato salad, oat bran muffin, light cheese stick & fresh peach, and 1 serving of dinner (varies daily- tonight I had cottage cheese, cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes). I decided on a hearty snack in between lunch and dinner- our schedule is a little wacky due to Sky's work and school schedule. Some nights we don't eat dinner until late. I definitely needed something to get me through from lunch to dinner. If I workout right after work, I can almost always use the extra fuel to get me through it so it was important that I had a filling snack.
The first few days were pretty difficult to be honest, but I can feel my body adjusting (even though it has only been about a week). I find that I'm not as hungry/don't reach for snacks as often and that is definitely a win in my book. One of the best things that I have noticed about this new schedule is the no-late-night snacking that I usually put myself through. I love desserts and hot popcorn- so the 'no eating past 8pm' rule has helped me so much! I'm not perfect (and I struggle a lot on the weekends) but I'm slowly strengthening my resistance muscle ;) Anytime I get the urge to snack after dinner, I try to remind myself that calories count double after 8pm (your metabolism naturally slows down in the evening as your body gets ready for rest so it takes long to get food through your system and you don't use it as efficiently). If you end up trying this little tip, please let me know! I want to hear about your experience! I wanted to try a little something different this week for breakfast. I am trying to wake up a little earlier (I pretty much always sleep later than I want to) and I really wanted to look forward to something in the am... ya know, to help get my booty out of bed! I thought this was worth a try. I super puffy heart love acai bowls and I have been looking forever for some powder on sale... I finally found some! It's still pretty pricey, but a 28-oz bag should last a long while... I hope haha. This breakfast is so dreamy- delicious, refreshing and just pretty. I felt like I had a gourmet breakfast today! Acai bowlRecipe from Pop Sugar
Homemade granolaRecipe from "Great Gatherings"
I store my granola in the fridge so that it lasts longer- this makes a pretty big batch! P.S. You won't even be a little bit mad that you made this granola. Its easy to make and husband approved. My cute husband and I have been officially married for two years now! It may not seem like a long time to some of you veterans, but I sure am happy. These 2 years have flown by- it feels like yesterday that we were here... (we have only known each other for 3 years but dang, I can't imagine life without this guy). This guy will bring me flowers when I've had a bad day, tickle me until I laugh when I'm in a bad mood & plays with my hair every night. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am the luckiest girl in the world to call him mine. I was able to take both Friday and Monday off, so we had a nice 4 day weekend. It was heavenly. We were able to visit the temple, see a couple of movies, hike a mountain (I had like 120 floors on my fitbit that day haha) and spend a night up at the Homestead Resort in Midway. Also- I made my guy a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting... the same cake we had at our wedding (the one we froze and ate on our 1 year anniversary)- my cake topper... haha. So ghetto. Anyways. It was nice to getaway and just be with my guy. He's my other half and I feel the happiest when we are together. This post is a little late... but I just love him so much! I couldn't let the time pass without talking about how much I love this man.
The idea of meal prep sounds pretty dang good during the week. Busy mornings turn into "whatever" kind of food days and that's definitely not helping me towards my food goals. I get a little overwhelmed at the whole "prep" part though, don't you? I know that this trend has been around forever now, but I wanted to figure out a way for un-motivated people (like moi) to get some prep done and be happy about it during the week. I decided to start with 3 meals each day- breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. I like to cook dinner each night for my hubby and I, so that didn't seem like a super relevant meal for prepping in advance. I usually plan out each dinner for the entire week and do my grocery shopping on Saturdays; Skylor likes to eat the leftovers for lunch throughout the week, and that usually works out great for us. Here are my go-to healthy cookbooks for dinners: Betty Crocker 300 calories, Cooking Light & Betty Crocker Heart Healthy. Here's the simplest meal prep schedule I could come up with that was still balanced and would keep me full. By simple, I kept it to the same meal each day. If you get bored with food easily, you may want to swap some things out each day. I'm generally okay with the same foods for a few days, but I might alter this week over week. I made all of my breakfasts, lunches and snacks on Sunday and stacked them all in the fridge (cooking in one large batch honestly made it feel so much easier than having to do a little bit each day). It took about an hour and half but it was my first time, so I am assuming that my prep time will go down in the future once I get the hang of things. Right now I am more focused on building good eating habits so I am not counting calories. I find that when I try to do too much at one time, I get super overwhelmed. Once I get the hang of this (and my 4-12 rule... I'll post about that soon!) then I might start keeping better track of the exact calories. For now, I am working to avoid junk food and cut out snacking/grazing throughout the day. Here's a little grocery list in case anyone else wants to try it out this week: For breakfast I made cake batter overnight oats- I found the recipe here and I altered it just a little bit. I didn't use the protein power but added more oats instead. Note that the recipe makes 2 servings- so split it in half to make one mason jar worth. I would also suggest to add the ingredients in the order listed and not to mix it until you are ready to eat (it will keep it from getting soggy). For lunch, I just sauteed the zucchini in a little bit of olive oil, browned the ground turkey and put some seasoning on it & broiled the tomatoes. To make the broiled tomatoes just mix bread crumbs (I used 1/4 cup for all 10 halves), about 1 tablespoon of garlic, salt & pepper and drizzled with olive oil. Put under the broiler for a few minutes (keep an eye on them, you don't want them to burn!) I'd love to get some meal ideas from any of you meal-prep-pros! I need to switch it up a little bit and would love some advice.
I know this is a bit of an older DVD, but I thought I would write a little review on it cause I liked it and it was different than my regular workouts so it was a fun little change. This series isn't very user friendly- there are 4 DVDs and none of the actual 'routines' have an extended run-through at the end. To me this was a pretty critical thing to miss because its so much easier to just follow along for 20-30 minutes, get your heart rate up and then move on. They teach a warm up, the steps of the routine and then have one run-thru. I was constantly wanting them to just keep the workout rolling so I had to manually keep resetting it. On the other hand, these routines were fun (as long as you don't take yourself too seriously!) and definitely made me feel a little sexy. I really enjoyed the fact that these routines were different. It was nice to get some steps in while working on some coordination and flexibility skills :) I was 100% way too shy to do these with anyone else or with anyone watching haha. Maybe one day I'll have the confidence to do this with friends and just have a fun girls night or something! If you want to try these DVDs I would suggest buying them on Amazon- I know that Best Buy sells them but I think they are more expensive there. Let me know if you end up trying these out and what you think! What do you guys add to your normal workout schedule to keep things interesting?
These were seriously yummy little snacks. Like straight up to die for! They have all of the nutrition info posted for you in a little print out and they come in these cutsey little packets. These are perfect for keeping at my desk- sometimes due to meetings or other crazy scheduling, I miss lunch so these are gonna be a life saver (I can already tell!) Also- I didn't think about this before but these are perfect church-bag snacks. So obvi I'm bringing these on Sunday. Graze.com has a pretty reasonable set up- $12 per box of 8 snacks. You can adjust the delivery date as you need it- I don't go through all 8 snacks that quickly so I order about once per month. They've also posted several coupons to my account after I signed up (like $2 off a variety pack and others like that) which is really nice. It's perfect to have these snacks on hand- so much better for you (and more exciting) than anything out of a vending machine. Between the granola, trail mix and other goodies you feel like you get something different each time, yay for variety! If you are interested in trying it out, here is a coupon code for your 1st and 5th box free! (6R7CM2PYB) Let me know what you think!
Growing up, I had a really difficult time finding motivation to exercise- honestly it was a huge struggle to get me to run even a mile. That being said, the only form of exercise that I actually enjoyed (but that never really felt like exercise) was gymnastics and dance. It was so fun for me to learn routines or tricks and whenever I mastered something, I felt very accomplished. I stopped going to organized dance classes and gymnastics when I was in my teens so it's been a long while since I've done anything like... but then I tried U-jam last year. U-jam is a dance/cardio fitness class that incorporates a pretty wide variety of music- everything from hip hop to oldies. I like this class quite a bit more than I like Zumba just because there's a lot more variety! U-jam has specific songs that you learn choreography too (no matter where you take a U-jam class, it will always be the same!) once you get the choreo down, you feel like a freaking pro. I like U-jam so much that I decided to take the workshop and get certified to teach it! It's been a challenge finding time to work on memorizing the choreography, but eventually I will start teaching. I officially passed my assessment so its time to get down to business. This format is just so much fun and so different- and that's how workouts should be! They shouldn't feel like work all the time, it's important to actually enjoy what you're doing. For Utah people- there are several classes taught here (from Salt Lake down to Spanish Fork). Try Baile Dance Studio, Vasa Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness and the Provo Rec! Outside of UT- go here and search your zip code to find a class! After you try your first class, you might totally hooked. Overnight oats are one of my favorite go-to breakfasts- its seriously the easiest thing to prep and pretty freaking good. I'm just all about easy- really. When you don't have to think about what to grab for breakfast on the way out of the house, you'll avoid junk food (usually) because you can't use the excuse that nothing is ready. Plus- it usually keeps me full until lunch and I know I'm getting some goodness in (can help lower risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes!) Now doesn't that look yum?! Recipe is from Pinch of Yum Ingredients:
Directions:
Try to sweeten this bowl with fruit and agave- keep it as natural as possible. Adding extra sugar kinda defeats the purpose, so don't go overboard if you have to add some sugar :)
Grocery delivery is the new thing and let me tell you, it is awesome. It was so so nice not to have to plan out 3 meals! Knowing that they would be dropped off at my door definitely took my stress level down a notch. Hello Fresh creates recipes, preps most of the ingredients and delivers them right to your door. They've cut out a ton of processing time (everything is already measured for you and you don't have to wash anything- its all ready to be cut!) and honestly it was delicious, flavorful and (you guessed it) fresh. Our box was delivered on Thursday morning in an refrigerated box- since I work during the day, the food wasn't put into the fridge until about 6 pm. I was nervous about that, but the packaging and ice packs made everything stay nice and cool- Hello Fresh has a great set up.
To be completely honest, I am not the biggest runner. In high school, I gained quite a bit of weight after a move to Hawaii, so I joined the cross country team in the hopes that it would get my butt in shape! Unfortunately, I was too much of a quitter and didn't push myself hard enough to really make any significant changes in my body. Even after moving back to Utah, my running habits didn't get much better and I continued at my same weight. Finally, after coming to college, I decided that I wanted to become a better runner (even if it wasn't a super long or impressive distance). I started borrowing neighbor/friend's dogs to go jogging at night in Provo and in Jerusalem during my study abroad, I had a good group of girls that were good at working out each day and that definitely started getting me on the right track. It wasn't until my wedding that I started running consistently (even if it was only a couple of times per week). I want to become an even better runner, and that just takes practice, right?? I'll keep you updated on any tips and tricks. I'm also reading this book, hope it helps!
Now are you ready for this good news?? I'll be teaming up Utah Run in American Fork to giveaway an entry for the Pink Series Half Marathon in Park City, Utah on October 10th. This is the perfect opportunity to commit to starting a running program and prepping for an upcoming race. Not only is this a great course, it is also for a great cause- this race is put on to raise money for various charities & to honor breast cancer survivors and patients! There's always lots of fun goodies and prizes at the end so this is a race you definitely don't want to miss.
Winner: Brooke Baird
You will be emailed information regarding your prize :) Thank you everyone for participating!
Please bear with me on this rafflecopter, it's my first time using it and I hope it works properly! (In the box beneath the Instagram entry, please put your username so I can verify, thanks loves!)
Having my gear prepped and ready to go makes it so much easier to head to the gym right after work, no excuses! The treadmill at the gym is my best friend right now since it is way too hot outside.
I'm not quite sure I can run race due to some scheduling conflicts at work, but I am going to prep for it anyways. It's been a while since I have run regularly, so I found a "beginners" training plan (found here) that will be my go to. If you are a more serious runner, this one also looks like a great plan. In the past I have used the Runners World app (it actually takes your most recent race time and gives you a training plan based on that!)
If you are wanting to run a 1/2 but don't have good running shoes, please go get officially fitted for a pair at Utah Run- don't underestimate how important this is! Crappy shoes can cause injuries (either acute or chronic) and no one likes to be in additional pain when they're exercising. My first post of the blog... yikes! This has been quite the journey for me. It is scary to put yourself out there and to tell your story sometimes. I've tried to start a health blog like 3 times already and I have deleted them every. single. time. So here goes! The guys in my cubicle played this about 50 million times the other day and I thought it would be fitting here: So yeah- stayed tuned for some good stuff!
I've been meaning to write this post for like, I don't know... FOREVER. So the pics are obviously not recent (HA- you should see my preggo belly now!) but I still wanted to share cause I found the best hair secret in the world. Not even kidding. And now I can really say how much I love it because its been two months and my hair is still killing it. See how freaking straight and not frizzy my hair is?!?!? I've got super curly and (mostly) unmanageable hair and Jessi from Aspen Salon (also coincidentally my adorable cousin) SAVED ME. I'm not even joking. She introduced me to the Brazilian Blowout and it has changed my world. I have never been able to just shower, brush my hair and be out the door. It (used to) always dry crazy and frizzy. At night when hubby would play with my hair, his fingers would also get stuck in knots and clumps of hair may or may not have come out because my hair was so out of control. Now, I can seriously jump out of the shower, brush my hair and it will dry straight/not frizzy. Its a godsend, I am telling you. I've tried to be really good and only wash with the shampoo & conditioner that Jessi gave me (to make it last longer)and to only wash every few days & my hair is still going strong. I know the blow out will fade here soon, so I guess it's a good excuse to make a trip back to UT and get it redone :) Jessi did a freaking fantastic job and I am obsessed with blowouts now. If you have frizzy or unmanageable hair- you need to hit Jessi (@practical._beauty) up. She will change your freaking world.
Guys, this might be a blubbery post because I am honestly STRESSED about how big my bump is already for 22 weeks and how much weight I have gained. I feel like its too much and too big (I'm sure I am just being emotional but still). Any other mommas feeling like this? Here's some updated pics since its been 1298634876 years since I've done any haha. Also, still in denial that I can't wear all my normal clothes... I'm busting out of this non-maternity jacket! I just wanted to talk a little bit in this post about what/how much I have been eating and what I think about it all. I can't say I have had a huge appetite, and I don't think I've been eating a ton more than normal but I'm still gaining weight of course. Doc says its healthy so I'm trying to take his word for it! That being said, I'm just waiting for the appetite stage to hit! I know some women take the mindset of eating for two... and I just wanted chat about it for a minute. Before I ever got preggers I started reading books on pregnancy, what to expect and how to deal. I should go back and reread them now that I actually am pregnant though haha. I read the book, You: Having a Baby and this really hit home for me. In the book they talk about you eating for 1.1. Seems simple right? I found it to be completely genius. That baby in there is SO TINY. There is no way on earth that you need to eat enough to feed to adult 'you's. 1.1To me, 1.1 means eating a little bit extra than normal each day (excluding the first trimester- since the baby really is SO small your body can handle it). According to What to Expect we should only be eating an extra 300 calories per day in the second trimester and an extra 500 per day in the third trimester. There's a few different opinions out there but I match this pretty close but a little lower. During my last semester at BYU, I really took an interest in what effects obesity had on pregnancy and the baby. Seriously, some of the most interesting stuff ever. Gaining a healthy and moderate amount of weight during your pregnancy can help set your baby up for success in the future. Little human will have a lower risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Long story short, we can all be a little better and a little healthier but that doesn't mean we need to be perfect 100% of the time. Some of my goals right now (a little bit at a time) are focusing on increasing nutrient dense food and adding in physical activity.
Do my other preggos have any goals that they are working towards? I'd love to hear about them! Also, any good menu planning (blander stuff), exercise and other random advice would be welcome! I'm a newb when it comes to motherhood so I love hearing about other people's experiences. Just wanted to say thanks for reading the blog!! I love and appreciate everyone who reads/support me, means so much! There's some new things coming for the blog later this year, I can't wait to share them with you :) Have a great Wednesday!!
Skylor and I are in the process of using up all of our pantry/food storage food so we are getting a little creative with our meals ;) I was sick of eating random stuff/toast for breakfast so I whipped up these bran muffins on Sunday and I've eaten like most of them so far haha (I'm a freak, who even likes bran muffins that much?!) But they are pretty tasty, filling and only have 160 calories per serving. So yes. I'm lovingggg them! I had this box of bran cereal and desperately needed to find a way to use it because I wasn't down to eat it like normal for some reason. I blame pregnancy. Anywho, if you have some bran flakes that you want to get out of your pantry, this is the perfect solution! They're so easy to make and you can freeze them for up to 3 months. Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker Heart Health Ingredients:
Just a reminder that I am giving away a $75 PinkBlush gift card away over on my instagram! The contest goes until August 3 so there's still a few more days! The gift card can be used for their maternity clothes or their regular clothing line :)
Get ready for picture OVERLOAD people. Haha, sorry but we are just so dang excited! We have been waiting and waiting to find out our baby's gender and last Thursday we were like all heart-eyes in the doctor's office. Baby Steed is a BOY! I cannot even tell you how excited we both are! People have been asking me why I wanted to have a boy first... and well I guess there are two reasons. First of all, I cannot wait to have a mini Skylor hanging out with me all day! I'm just day dreaming about what he is gonna look like and be like!! Secondly, its because I love having older brothers.... I may not have always liked it (ammiright?) but, I love know that I can always count on them to be there for me and to support me. I wanted my other kids to have that too. Lil boyfriend passed his ultrasound with flying colors! He seems to be healthy so far and we are SO grateful. The best thing about our appointment was that our sweet ultrasound tech told us that he had a brain, heart, two arms, 10 fingers, two feet and 10 toes. HE'S SO CUTE IN THERE. We have obviously got lots to do before December, but we cannot wait until this guy arrives! I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. Being a parent seems scary! Skylor and I had a good time taking these pics in the park haha. We set up our tripod & our self timer rocked it. The best part about the whole thing was all of the random people catching Pokemon around us ;) On a totally different note, I have been DYING to wear this PinkBlush Maternity dress. It fit my growing belly like a boss and I couldn't be happier that I snagged it! I wanted us to look semi-dressed up in our pics and it did the trick perfectly. I've been feeling a little large, and NOT in charge (of my weight) the past little while. Even so, this dress is so flattering and made me feel pretty. Most of my clothes, definitely do not make me feel that way. I absolutely love the lace detailing on this dress! I barely even accessorized just because I feel like this dress makes enough of a statement on its own. Soooo because I love this dress from PinkBlush so much, I'm doing a giveaway on my instagram! Go check it out on @eatglitterallday to see more details!
This Cooking Light masterpiece recipe has been our favorite for the past couple of years (or like basically since we have been married and I graduated from making strictly Hamburger Helper... haha definitely a step up!) There's no sauce on this bad boy, it is pretty nontraditional! If you're willing to try something different, we can be best friends forever. And food doesn't make me want to die every second now, so let's celebrate with some pizza. This recipe comes in two parts- the dough and the toppings/baking instructions. This does take a least a little planning ahead... the dough takes about 30 minutes to rise (well worth the wait!) We love adding the spicy turkey sausage to ours... pork sausage also works though. Andddd cherry tomatoes are preferable, but we are kinda cheap and just cut up roma tomatoes ;) Oooooh and last pointer.... this recipe is turns out the best on a pizza stone if you have one. Ours is well loved (as you can see haha) but a regular pizza pan will work too. Recipe from The Best of Cooking Light Dough Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast Topping Ingredients:
We nom HARD on this pizza. Seriously, Sky and I never leave left overs haha. I love that there's no sauce (I'm not a huge tomato sauce fan anyways). Its a little spicy and we freaking love it.
Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I wanna know what you think!! It's been a hot minute since I have posted a recipe on hurr. Mostly because most food has made me want to just die lately haha! Fortunately, I've been able to eat fruit like a boss almost the entire time. We bought a watermelon a little bit ago and didn't cut it out of laziness. When we finally did, it wasn't the sweetest one ever so I obviously mixed it with berries and drank it instead. It's been so hot lately that this is the perfect summa drink! Even when the watermelon wasn't the freshest, it still tasted dang good. Let me know if you try it and what you think! The lime in here though is the most brilliant thing about it. SO GOOD. Ingredients:
Directions:
We just got back from Houston, Texas so that we could get our visas for Denmark! I'm literally freaking out. We leave in about a month and a half and we have SO. MUCH. TO. DO. We still need to pack up our entire apartment, sell of some extra furniture, sell both our cars and move everything into storage. YIKES. Also, we totally still need to find a place to live in Copenhagen haha. Oh gosh we are crazy for just going over! I am so freaking excited, literally cannot wait for this next adventure. How cute is my babe? We got to go to the Houston Space Center using our Houston CITYPasses (best way to visit a city). This is the rocket, Saturn V. We literally couldn't believe how massive this rocket was!
So! The real reason I've been so MIA lately is because I'm pregnant! I've been sicker than a dog so far with nausea 24/7. No joke. I kinda feel like I'm dying haha. I'm sure (well hoping!) that this awful phase will pass soon because I don't know how much longer I can do this. I know, I'm kind of a baby about it! When I went to the doctor on my first appointment, I did get a prescription that I think has been helping a little.... but maybe it's all in my head? Heat and driving make my sickness 100x worse so I've been trying to avoid those if I can. My eating has been iffy because of some major food aversions so its been a ton of saltines, pretzels, toast and ginger ale. I told myself before I ever got pregnant that I would work my hardest to stay healthy BUT when you can't keep much down and everything (seriously everything) makes me want to gag, you just do what you can. Meat literally makes me want to die still so there hasn't been much protein going on. I've already gained about 15 pounds since I found out I was pregnant.... which is discouraging. I know that some women gain weight quicker but I want to try my hardest to gain weight slowly (its better for the baby and for mom). I don't want to deal with gestational diabetes or any other crazy things if I can help it. I'll gain as much weight as I need to to keep baby healthy but that also means not gaining too much, too fast! The first trimester I gained a lot of fluids (I think) because all of my clothes still fit normal. Between weeks 12-16 I gained 4 lbs which is on schedule (1 lb per week is not too bad). Also, my feet already look swollen and gross! Ugh, not a fan. As far as workouts go, I'll be doing a DVD by DVD review so you can get a good idea about what might work best for you (if you happen to be pregnant). I've loved Tracy's Pregnancy Project (obvs) but also found that I really like Ballet Beautiful/Ballet Baby. I haven't only doing prenatal workouts, but I have modified them just a bit. I have also tried a couple of circuits from Kayla Itsines or the BBG program... I've figured out that these are way too intense because I puke right after. I'm the freak who doesn't know how to tone down workouts haha. If I'm not dying its not a workout, right? I'm really excited to be able to blog about my journey! This is my first pregnancy, so I'm sure it will be a huge learning experience but we are so excited with what is in store for the future! I can honestly say that I haven't loved being pregnant so far. I've had a crappy attitude and have been feeling crappy sooooo I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore haha. I'm going to be as real as I can on the blog- who likes fake people anyways? You're going to see my weight and struggles on here, so be ready!
In case you are wondering, we will be having the baby in Denmark (yikes! I'm nervous to be so far from home) so if you have any tips on international baby birthing, send it my way! Hiiiiiiya! So I promise... this week you'll know why I've been so MIA here on the blog and on Instagram.... its a good excuse I promise! So stay tuned for that goodness. ALSO- the winner of the giveaway from this past weekend is @jordanisobel. Congrats girl! Please DM me your address so I can mail you your gift card :) SOOOOO. Now onto the real content here haha. I promise to have some new and exciting/motivating things soon but for now you just a super awesome Biggest Loser-style cool down :) Following a workout, you should ALWAYS bring your heart rate down to normal. Always always always. It helps prevent *venous blood pooling and can help avoid injuries post-workout. *Venous blood pooling: I am referring to what happens in your lower extremities following exercise- your heart is furiously pumping blood to your muscles to help support the exercise... so when you stop suddenly without a cool down, the muscles aren't contracting as they need to in order to pump the blood back up to the heart. You want/need to have your leg muscles help get that blood back up to your heart because this will help bring your heart rate back down to normal slow and steady. It is tough on your heart to suddenly change from a super high pressure to a low pressure. The best thing to do following your workout is to walk it off or take it to a lower intensity (whether that be dancing, biking, or whatever you are doing). This helps gradually get your body back to normal. This usually takes me about 10 minutes to get all the way back down to my resting heart rate. Follow that steady decline with these stretches to prevent injury and increase your flexibility!
1. Calf StretchStand facing the wall with one leg lunged out behind you. Place your hands on the way and push towards the wall while working to keep your lunged back heel on the floor. You'll feel the stretch in the back leg. 2. Hamstring StretchI snagged this warm up from the Look Better Naked book (found HERE) and I am OBSESSED. I really love this book! Great advice and this is a great little warm up to get your heart rate up and ready for your workout. 1. Deep Pivoting Squat
2. Walking Leg Cradle
3. Walking Heel to Butt
4. Lateral Jump
5. Walking Inverted Hamstring
6. Wide OutThis picture was kinda awkward to take haha.
7. Forward and Back Single Leg Hops
8. Lunge Walk with Rotation
9. Single Leg Lateral Hop
10. Lateral Push Up Shuffle
I'll usually end my warm up with some jump ropes or a light jog just to get my heart rate up to a consistent pace.
Let me know what you guys think about this warm up and any great workouts/exercises that you love to do in your warm ups! Again, so sorry that posting has been so inconsistent, life can be crazy!! I don't have my little video done for today but I wanted to get this posted anyways! Do you guys know that the government (more specifically the Center for Disease Control and Prevention or the CDC) releases info every few years as to what the minimum requirements Americans need to get health benefits? I think that this is pretty cool! They put millions of dollars (I'm sure) into studies and research to determine what we need to be healthy. I mean, they won't tell you how to prepare for a body building competition or how to be super duper thin but they do tell you how to get the health benefits of exercise... to me, that is so important! Not all of us can or want to be fitness models or super models, we just want to be healthy! This is becoming more and more important to me as I get older. I want my body to function properly, ya know? Let's start with the cardiovascular/aerobic requirements-
Today I needed an easy-breezy post because... to be totally honest I haven't done a single thing to prep! Skylor has been gone soooooo I've not done anything really haha. When I say anything I mean it, like there's totally piles of laundry all over my living room and bedroom. So a well-planned blog post really had no chance today haha. But I still wanted to do a little something for you guys! Alsoooo. H stands for health and F stands for fitness.... Go HERE to follow me Pinterest can be a never-ending black hole if you aren't careful (also... I feel like 50% of the content on the health and fitness page is bogus) so I decided to put some links and articles together that I have been digging on pinterest. Sorry that this food stuff is all frozen! It's almost summer time so smoothies are sounding bomb.com right now! Foodie StuffHow freaking divine does this smoothie look? I snagged the recipe from Cooking Classy (link HERE) and I am freaking dying over it. I love a good green smoothie and the orange in this sounds like freaking perfection. Where there is green, there must be red too! Okay so I've never had a smoothie this red before but the color itself has totally hooked me in. Plus... KIWIS. Why are they the prettiest fruit in the world?!?! Recipe is from The Pretty Bee (link found HERE) Apples during the summer are just the freaking best. I love super crisp and sweet apples (like pink lady or gala) and these treats are the perfect snack to satisfy your sweet tooth! I'm going to prep these the next time I'm craving cookies or something. The recipe is from Rachel Schultz (link found HERE). Sweaty StuffI found this simple stretch segment off of Eating Bird Food (link found HERE) and I don't know about you but I have gotta get my stretch game going. I feel like it something that my regular fitness routine has been lacking and I desperately need to change it. Personally, I would try to hold each stretch for 30 seconds-1 minutes and then repeat the entire segment once your muscles loosen a bit after the first round. If you've read my blog at all, you know I love my at-home workouts. I like the gym but I love not having to go anywhere to get a great workout! I'm always down to try new things and cardio is my weakness (I hate/love it). I got this from a blog called The Healthy Fit Foodie (link found HERE) I love the simplicity of this workout and I can't wait to try it. Last but not least... my girl Tracy Anderson. Freaking obsessed with her. Her workouts are unique and require a lot of thinking. According to TA, keeping your brain involved is mega important (there's a time for just mindless sweating but most of your workouts should involve your brain!). I've actually done this workout while I was on a work trip and I loved it. Tracy is freaking genius. Source of the workout is from Health Magazine (link found HERE).
Remember these guys from Tuesday??? Yeah, pretty hard to forget this killer couple. They're #bodgoals and #squadgoals for sure. Today I've got a workout from Ethan though. This is his 20 minute version of a full body gym workout and it is killer. 20 Min Full Body3 sets 8-12 reps 10 sec. rest in between sets HIIT High Intensity Interval Training 1. Dumbbell CurlsSit up straight with a dumbbell in each hand at arm's length. Keep your elbows close to your torso and rotate the palms of your hands until they are facing forward. This will be your starting position. Now, keeping the upper arms stationary, exhale and curl the weights while contracting your biceps.
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HollieI'm a college-grad, certified group fitness instructor and certified personal trainer looking to get my healthy to the next level. I hope you can find a little something here that will help you on your journey too. Archives
December 2015
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