'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 :-)