Motivational Monday

I almost forgot my motivational Monday! Yikes :( so sorry for you all that were waiting to see what kind of motivation I have for you today! 

Well I have been doing a lot of quotes and for today's I just wanted to share a picture from my personal life to inspire you all to keep pushing towards your goals. Tonight I wore my polar watch to Zumba and I didn't expect to burn so many calories as I did. This class kicked my butt and it really did pay off! 

I ended up burning a whopping 663 calories!! Say what!? I was pretty impressed and it lifted up my spirits because this past weekend I wasn't so good with my eating habits. 

Tomorrow I plan to get up early and get to the gym by 7:30 and hopefully have the same results as I did from tonight's class. 

Hope you all enjoy your Monday evening and again sorry for not posting this earlier! 

Healthy Eating

Eating well balanced meals is an essential part of any weight loss program. You can exercise everyday, but if you aren't eating the correct foods it can make the challenge to losing weight harder. I noticed when I was eating 5 small meals a day and getting plenty of water I was dropping more weight than by just exercising and not eating very well. 

My daily schedule is normally very busy with going to classes and traveling back and forth to school, so it is important for me to pack my lunch and plan ahead.

Right when I wake up I drink a glass of Advocare's Spark 

($1 goes to Breast Cancer Research when purchasing the Pink Lemonade). 

Spark was one of the first products I was instantly hooked on when trying out Advocare & now I have my fiance hooked on it as well. He loves drinking it in the morning and has officially replaced coffee and redbulls with this drink. 
Spark is a great product because it gives you that pick me up you may need during any point during the day and it is a very healthy option. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals! 
I LOVE this product & promise YOU will too!
You can get it here
Breakfast for me isn't just a spark, but I normally whip up 4 egg whites & to give them a little flavor add some mustard. I know I know what you all are thinking...WTF...it's actually delicious and mustard only has 5 CALORIES!

Snacks for me are normally unsalted almonds & an apple.
Lunch I try to go with salads. This is one item I don't usually pack because I can't seem to keep my salads cold long enough until lunch time. My campus has some really delicious salads and they are affordable. 

They are super filling as well!

I normally eat around noon so my second snack comes in around 2 and I try to eat either more almonds or a veggie. Cucumbers were definitely a hit for me in the summer because my garden was overflowing with many beautiful cucumbers. 

Dinner time comes around after I workout which is usually after 7. My zumba classes are from 6-7 so I make sure I have dinner ready when I get home. By the time class is over I'm starving! Dinner for me varies. One night this week I had whole wheat penne pasta with spaghetti sauce and a side salad. Was very filling.

Hope you all enjoyed a look at what my day looks like with food! :)

Motivational Monday!

It's that time again for another motivational monday! 

This quote is a perfect one for this week. In the beginning of my journey I really struggled with seeing progress. There were times that I really wanted to just give up and quit, but because of the people around me I kept going strong. I would find myself getting discouraged because I had a ways to go to reach my goal. 

Just remember when you are achieving any goal to just remember how far you have come, because most people are still waiting at the starting line to even get motivated. 

Have a great week and take today to look back on your journey. Reward yourself for how far you have come and don't dwell on how far you have to go.

Grocery Shopping

This seems to be a hot topic lately & I've decided to share with you all my tips about making my purchases at the grocery store. Groceries can add up very quickly especially when your making healthier purchases or even going organic. I've created a list of things I use when I go grocery shopping. Now remember I am in college so a budget is KEY for me. 

Rule #1: Plan out your meals for the week. 

I have found that when I plan for the prior week ahead it makes shopping much easier. When I meal plan I turn to Pinterest for healthy eating options and recipes. Most of my meals are pretty simple and most importantly clean.  

This step and the next do take some time when planning. 

Rule #2: Never enter the store without your list. 

Before you head out of the house go through your refrigerator, pantry, cabinets, and freezer to see what food items you really need for your menu that week. This has been a really useful tip for myself because let's face it I love to eat! It helps cut the costs of buying miscellaneous foods that you didn't plan to be eating that week. It also helps because you probably have some of the ingredients already stocked up, so it also helps from buying what you already have. 

Rule #3: Use cash when paying. 

When you use cash your more likely to stay within your budget. Again being in college has really made me open my eyes on spending and budgeting. I started using the Dave Ramsey method about a year ago and it has really helped me budget. 

Rule #4: Clip coupons. 

I personally don't do this, but I have seen many people at the store have binders full of coupons. Maybe in the future I will give this a try, but here is a way to lower your grocery bill. 

These are all the useful tips I have come up with for when you are grocery shopping. Hope you found it useful and give it a try. Look out for a more updated version in the future about what my trip to the store looks like :) 

Fruits and veggies coming your way! 

Motivational Monday

It's that dreaded Monday many of us hate! Especially when we are trying to reach those fitness goals that many of us set out for at the beginning of 2013. I found a quote I wanted to share with you all because it's a great way to remember why we made certain changes to our lives. 

This quote really hit home for me because I struggle with many temptations. I always tell myself it will get easier. You just have to remember why you're doing it! 

We can't let our battles defeat us. If it knocks you down get back up and keep trying. Nobody's perfect but with practice and dedication you will perfect it and make yourself better than you could ever imagine! 

For me personally my life started going so fast and the days flew by that I forgot the important things in my life. I needed to really take a step back or two and enjoy every moment in life and not worry about the small things. For me right now I am really struggling with getting off those last few pounds. In the beginning the weight just came off, but lately I haven't seen any progress. It's a little discouraging but I know if I keep pushing I can do it! I will do it! 

Today is the day to make changes for the rest of your week so get that booty to the gym, go hard, and remember why you started! 

Saturday!

Today I couldn't get myself out of bed to go to Zumba this morning. I slept in with my boo until 10:30 and then got up and made some yummy waffles. I haven't had these yummy treats in sooo long. 

I was really wanting some peanut butter but there was none to be found in my fiancés house. I can't wait til we have our own home because there will be tons of peanut butter in our cabinets. Ha. Plus a ton of heathly foods so we don't have these temptations like waffles. 

Me and my love spent the rest of the day lounging watching movies on netflix. Maybe we will carve some pumpkins this evening. I can't wait for Halloween! 

Hope everyone enjoys there weekend and keep a look out for my first motivational Monday post! 

Motivational Mondays!

On Mondays I will be starting up Motivational Mondays! The purpose is pretty self explanatory, but I know on mondays they are normally rough days for everyone. I like looking at motivational quotes to turn my week in the right direction, so I will be sharing them with you all!!

Since today's Wednesday the title doesn't fit, but HEY getting ahead of the game for next week...

This is what my October calendar looks like for my workout agenda. 

I love these dry erase calendars so much I have 3 of them! One I use for just my agenda for the month of events and dates I need to remember. My other one is strictly for my workouts like the picture shown. I haven't opened my other calendar out of the package yet, but I plan on using it for menu planning. 

  

I snapped a random picture of my gym where we take Zumba classes. Obviously I arrived a little early and like sitting in the dark. Zumba is a great workout for anyone who is thinking about taking classes as well. I wore my Polar Watch to one class and burned 530 calories!!! 

This class was a lot fuller than what it has been and I completely fucked up most of my dances today. Whoops. I really need to get back into the swing of things thats for sure. There's actually a class tonight so I am pretty excited to go and shake my "wanna be tail feather." 

Getting Back to Being Healthy!

Okay so the last few months I've fallen off the band wagon and have hit a lot of bumps in the road. The temptations got the best of me and I started to slip up more and more until finally I set back in to old habits. What the! I made it my priority for the month of October to purchase my monthly membership from my gym and get my ass back to going at least 3 times a week!! 

A few weeks ago I took this picture and realized I have let myself go... AGAIN! The picture may not look as bad as you'd think but I can notice my clothes feeling tighter in places they weren't. I need to keep myself accountable and on track! That was the overall purpose of my blog to track my progress but life generally got in the way. I'm promising myself and you all that I'm starting this journey not over but simply picking up where I've left off. If your reading this and saying wow this is me don't feel ashamed feel excited because we can tackle this challenge together. I've learned over the past year that it isn't about the numbers on the scale but its about how your feeling and progressing. My advice!! Take lots of pictures because you won't notice changes in yourself in the mirror but pictures will definitely show you your progress. Well here's to getting back to my healthy life! Hope you all join me or simply follow along and encourage me to keep going! 

Happy Friday!!