'Lil Miss Know it All'

Hey, Hey!

No I'm not calling myself a 'Little miss know it all'... or anyone else for that matter. HAHA! I chose this title because I am VERY excited about this blog post! In this post I will have facts... Short, sweet and simple facts on things you can do to increase your metabolism, and other fun info.

Okay lets raise your Metabolism!

1) Drink Green Tea... No not the lipton green tea in a bottle (silly goose) Get the cute little tea bags (non caffeinated would be best) or if like me I get the K-cups.

2) Drink 'Distilled Water' instead of tap

3) Get a healthy dose of Omega-3's. I had to do some research on this one, but the break down is that it helps to balance your blood sugar and reduce inflammation. 

4) DON'T eat too little... Now I do have an issue here because like most close to the end of the pay period we start to run out of food. Every time I slow down my eating... But if you (like me) do this it's bad bad bad. When you eat too little your body begins to store fat... that's no bueno! Eat Eat Eat... just not too much!

5) You heard your mommy preach it... now you're going to hear me! EAT BREAKFAST! it's so important that you eat breakfast I can't believe for 6 years I never ate breakfast! How could I possibly think it was okay to deprive my body that long of food! (I'll share some yummy breakfast ideas down below)

6) When you do any sorta of work out (even if it's housework) do HIT (High Intensity Training) this will help with stamina and also with your metabolism... So next time you clean floors work hard for 30 seconds and slow down for 30 seconds.. rinse and repeat!

7) Grow a Garden and Share with your Friends! I say this because the toxins found in non organic foods can harm your thyroid. Now some say you don't have to go organic and you don't.. but know that those foods were not grown in the fashion you are hoping for.

8) If you are hungry and don't know what to snack on think PROTEIN .... look for something with lean protein in it. It will fill you up longer and you'll feel satisfied without all the headache of regret from something loaded in carbs or sugars.

Fun tips:

When shopping stay out of isles as much as possible. The stuff you find in isles are processed and I encourage you to stay away from processed food as much as possible. You can't completely break up with processed food, but the more organic and non processed you eat the healthier you'll feel and look. (Thank you to my friend Sarah Thompson for bringing this to my attention while we were shopping one day)

Are you sore after a workout? GREAT that is what you want! Don't stop believing (Yes I sang that) You worked out to feel this way... Get your booty back in the gym and workout some more!

Try to change up what you do in the gym often. Don't always do abs because you think that's the spot that needs the most work.... Work on your other muscles too... show them some love!

New to the gym? Try to stick with more cardio workouts to get your endurance up! Then you can look into more weight training.

Need a cheese substitute for your favorite recipe but trying to stay away from super fatty dairy products? Try Feta cheese it's a great alternative. (Look for low fat and organic if you can find it)

Sign up for My Fitness Pal and track everything you eat all the time. This will be your accountability partner. When you have 150 calories remaining and you want to eat your last snack of the day you'll know that you can't go eating a 300 calorie snack. Also it will give you a calorie count for each day based on all the information you input... Leading me to my next point.

Take your daily calorie intake, divide it by 6 and that's how many meals and how many calories for each meal you eat. Example. I am allowed 1,200... 1,200 divided by 6 is 200 calories per meal. I try to work out every day and usually burn between 450-650 calories so I eat about 300 calories per meal/snack... which gives me about what I need each day. I adjust this as needed to suit my workout each day!

I found this great site that has 50 weight loss tips and I really enjoyed reading it. HERE

Number 1 and 6 are my favorite! You have to exert more energy than you consume and you have to start reading and understanding labels. You can't lose weight without either of those 2 things.

Breakfast Ideas: I'm not giving you recipes, but there are tons online if you look.

1) Steel Cut Oats with a fruit and nut
2) Greek Yogurt with Quinoa Crunch and fruit or nuts
3) Whole Grain Toast with honey OR goat cheese spread
4) Poached Eggs on Lettuce
5) Omelet
6) Muffins (Homemade and made healthy)
7) Multigrain Pancakes... (I recommend not trying coconut flour pancakes I haven't liked them any time I tried them)
8) Fruit Smoothie

Those are some of my favorites. You can research some good recipes :-) (hey I can't do ALL the research)

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I've been very excited to show it to you all! BTW I'm down 16 lbs in 6 weeks! WOOT!

Also for my local friends I mentioned last week that Feb. 18th is the date "most people" fall off their New years resolution. Don't let that be you! Golds Gym is allowing all friends and family to get in FREE on the 18th (tomorrow) if you would like to go please let me know! I will be going twice once in the morning and once in the evening.

Thank you everyone for reading!

Find Joy in Your Journey

Hey, Hey! It's been a couple weeks since I was last able to post. My 2 year old (Josiah) had his tonsils and adenoids removed, and it wasn't a quick recovery. This week my husband helped me with my topic "Find Joy in Your Journey".

First I want to quick say I'm down 14 Lbs! Sitting at about 222lbs (it fluctuates)  Which leads me to a great point. Don't get worried if you are doing work, and weigh more than you think you should. Stay consistent in your eating and working out... you'll see the changes come as long as you're being obedient!

FIND JOY IN YOUR JOURNEY.... FIND JOY IN YOUR JOURNEY....

Now say... I WILL FIND JOY IN MY JOURNEY! say it again!

Okay!!! Now that you've told yourself you'll find joy in your journey... your chances are higher that you wont become a statistic and stop your New Years resolution! Yes it's true! The average date most people stop their workout/eating right regimen is by the 18th of February... I think it's because of all the chocolate on Valentines day! Whatever the reason don't become the statistic!

Find JOY in your Journey! It's like this; you need to retrain your mind! On January 1st you say to yourself I want to lose weight. By the 6th week you've only seen 5-10 lbs come off and for the last week nothing more... Mid February comes around and you become discouraged because you dislike this disciplined lifestyle and want immediate changes.

There are 2 parts here...

1) You're not going to get results immediately. Everyone that begins a work out regimen will see a change of 5-10 lbs right away (Some times more, and of course maybe less everyone's different), but once they get to the stand still after a handful of weeks they get lost and discouraged. DON'T lie to yourself! You're still doing great... don't think now think in a years time! I have said this in all my posts.. STOP THINKING NOW... think in the future! When you made your resolution you said THIS YEAR I want to lose ____ lbs. You didn't say this month.. or these next 6 weeks... You said THIS YEAR. Stop expecting immediate results. I'm preaching to myself by the way! I am just as guilty of this as anyone else.

2) MOST IMPORTANTLY: Find joy joy joy in your journey!!!  Your joy isn't the lbs coming off (although the ultimate goal) it's not the JOY. The Joy should be every day, making wise decisions. Finding YUMMY meals that are good for you (and sharing them with me ;-)... Shopping and looking in your cart seeing all healthy, and seeing someone elses and saying that's not me anymore.... entering the gym and knowing what you can become.... the compliments... the energy.... the motivation to play with your kids if you have them... The fun dances in zumba (yes men can do it too)... the shopping for smaller sizes.... This is a JOURNEY it's not a fast process....Just think, for me it took 6 years to get this big (I was a size 6 in the Air Force in 07') I'm not going to lose this weight in 6 weeks it could very well take me 2+ years to get that small again.

So in the end of reading this I hope you learned 2 things. Don't expect immediate results, and find joy in this new journey of yours.

TIP: If you desire chocolate for Valentines day choose a Dark Chocolate not a milk chocolate!

                               January 1st, 2014                                         February 10th, 2014

I know it's not a HUGE change, but that's what I'm telling you! Don't expect HUGE changes immediately :-)

Take it in STRIDE

I weighed myself today, and I'm down 10 lbs!!! This weekend was one with many cheats. Friday we had a pizza party, and Saturday we went to a birthday party... Both were at dinner time. Soooo this lead me to my point for this blog post. It's short and sweet! 

I follow this Facebook page named "Stay Healthy Fitness" and it's jam packed with motivational quotes and recipes. On there I seen this:

 Most people get that backwards and thought it was neat!

It dawned on me... It's all about how I eat! I felt SO bad for having my cheat days this week, but that's good! I learned cheat days without conviction means you will go nowhere, but cheat days where you feel conviction means you actually care about what you are eating, and that's 80% of a healthier lifestyle. 

When I weighed myself today I seen 226 on the scale and I'm not going to lie I haven't seen a number under 228 in over 3 years! What a great feeling! Even after my cheat days it didn't ultimately effect my outcome. 

When I was thinking hard about this it brought me to a couple conclusions. 1) You can eat clean 7 days a week for 12 weeks and be sadly mistaken when you step on the scale because you've lost the weight, but now you can cheat and you put it back on... (Which will happen because you're burnt out on this strict diet) OR 2) You can eat in moderation 100% of the time, but treat yourself and enjoy the fact that you are human, and this isn't a 12 week course, this is a long term goal! As we all know, we have birthday parties, and pizza parties to attend every once in awhile!

I've put this in my mind, I want to see what I look like in 1 years time, not 12 weeks time. If I wanted to know what I could look like in 12 weeks I'd be on the biggest loser.

Now this is not an excuse to cheat all the time! To lose weight you must be mindful of everything you eat, and every exercise you do. I suggest looking into getting a "My Fitness Pal" account if you don't already have one. It takes discipline to fill this out every day all day and figure out calories for homemade meals, but it's so worth it because you won't over eat this way. I've done it every day (Minus Sunday's) for 20 days now and it's not that bad. I know at some point I'll know most everything and wont really need it, but until that point it's 100% worth the work. 

My Fitness Pal User Name:

Nickybear131

Recipes I have made this week and we agree are great:

Note: I do not take credit for these recipes or photos I've searched the internet for them, and they are Thompson household approved.

Roasted Shrimp on Spaghetti Squash

Pork Chops Stuffed with Feta and Spinach

Introduction :-)

Hey Fans! Welcome to my weightloss journey! I hope you find inspiration here. This year like most; I have made the goal to lose weight and drop inches. As an accountability, and because I know most of you can become discouraged (including myself) about the world of unknowns; I thought it would be smart to start a blog. I will go more in depth with more posts. I wanted to be vague and encouraging in this post. What you can expect from future posts will be progress photos, recipes, workouts, snack ideas, encouragement and much more! I want this to be an enjoyable place for everyone in my position looking for more tips, tricks and techniques to a healthier lifestyle. Please subscribe to this blog so you get updates on new posts.

Meet Nicky!!! I'm a 25 year old mom of 2 boys. My Oldest son is 4 and my youngest is 2... I also have a stepdaughter who is 9. They have a lot of energy and although you'd think that would keep a mom fit... it sadly doesn't. I weighed 236 lbs at the start of this year. I stepped on a scale Jan 1, 2014 to see my start. I am thankful it's just that "A Start" because where I finish will be much more exciting! I am in size 18 pants and XL shirts. Bra size is 42D... Yes some people don't care but I do! Again this is an accountability for myself and hopefully for you as well.

Caption: I think my photographer made me look skinnier in this photo, because I look fairly fit there!

 

Caption: Don't judge it takes a lot for me to show you my body, but I want it to be encouragement for those who rock the same boat as me... that you CAN do this. It's not a today or next week thing this is a lifestyle change that needs to take place. That means find stuff you like to eat that is healthy and search for recipes you like that are good for you. Don't just eat fresh fruit and veggies and think that's all you have. There are tons of recipes and snacks that are good for you that are yummy! 

Eat smaller portions at MIN of 6 times a day. NOT huge meals. Think little! As a wife and mother I try to eat less than my physically fit husband and more than my kids (perfect for me). I bought a 16oz cup for water and I just drink on it all day. Let me tell you... If there is a "worlds worst water drinker" it's me. Prior to this journey I would go weeks without water... yes I said it WEEKS. I would drink everything BUT water (not soda never been a fan) but I loved Juices and milk and all sorts of things BUT water. So if I can drink water so can you! See HERE for some neat ideas on flavoring it so it's not plain.

About 6 years ago I was in the USAF I was enlisted for 2 years and in GREAT shape! I didn't try very hard at staying in shape just did the minimum but still carried a size 8 pants and medium-small shirts. Inspiration I'm telling you! I am determined to be that general size again. I gained weight like most other moms during pregnancy because I sold myself the lie that it was okay to eat anything I wanted "I was pregnant". I have a great friend Desiree who has been working her tail off in the gym for 2 years and it never dawned on me until the New year that "Wow that could be me". I am also blessed with an amazing husband who has been dedicated to the gym for the last 6 years and is an amateur bodybuilder. So my foundation is set with a great support system... NO excuses! Now it's up to me to change things in my life.

Okinawa Japan 2007

October 2008

Today is Jan. 14th 2014, and I've been going strong for the last 2 weeks I'm down to 229 (which always fluctuates) but either way that is 7 lbs in 2 weeks and I'm proud. Don't beat yourself up at any point during your journey; everything shifts and fluctuates. Learn to love yourself and be encouraged by where you want to be. Working out is not a short term goal... you have to think in 1-2 years, and  every day living like this... what will I be like? (Not in 4 weeks what will I be like). If that's the way you are thinking, then in 4 weeks you will be sadly discouraged and probably quit. I've learned so far that I don't want to, and shouldn't expect 15 lbs in 2 weeks. That's reaching for the stars... I'm more content with the 7 lbs than I would be with the 15+.. Why? you ask! Because I'm doing everything right.

The biggest thing to losing weight the right way is lowering your intake during meals from a HUGE portion (the American portion) to a smaller more nutrient packed portion, and raising your heart rate every day. Yes it's important to get an #Epic workout in, but it's also just as important that if you can't get an awesome circuit in just do something. Desiree told me that when you're eating your meals focus on your protein (meats) eat those first and then your sides. You want to eat less sides than protein. Let me tell you it works... I almost NEVER finish my sides which is a good thing ;-)

The heart is a muscle... this didn't dawn on me before like it does now. It's a muscle... if you never exercise it.. well it becomes weak. Weak hearts can become an issue to your health... so if that's not reason enough to exercise everyday I don't know what is!!

Search my Pinterest for some encouragement, inspiration and recipes. There is so much on there it's crazy!

Thanks for reading!
Nicky Thompson