mamavation: setting wellness goals & talkin' music.

so on monday i started a six week "fitness challenge" with my three sisters, my mom, & my nephew.  we're all putting in $25 & the winner takes home the pot.  we even have a facebook page to post our goals, update our progress & keep tabs on each other.  here's how it works:

• we all set five goals.  three of them are similar {#1: work out goal, #2: nutrition goal, #3: water intake goal} & two of them are personal.  here are my goals:

• each goal is worth a point, you can earn 5 points a day.  at the end of six weeks, whoever has the most points walks away with the $150 pot.  

these are some pretty hardcore goals.  i don't plan on working out 6x a week for the rest of my life, but for the next six weeks i'm sure gonna try.  same with the sweets.  and going to bed by midnight every night?  yeah right.  but doing little challenges like this keeps life interesting & keeps me motivated to push myself that much harder.

and who knows, by the end i may even like push ups.

yup.  i did my 30 push ups today outside on the back deck.  i'm 5/5 so far three days & counting!  i'm gonna win dem monies.

and one more thing that motivates me?

music.  BIG TIME.  i may be dragging all day long & the second i turn on my workout playlist i get antsy to get outside & hit the pavement.  i'm convinced i have some of the best songs to run to ever.  EVER.  wanna talk running songs?  hit up my facebook page & let's swap.

i've even increased my pace significantly by a little music-inspired trick.  i jog the verses & then sprint the choruses.  then when the chorus is over, it's back to an easy jog for recovery.  and?  i don't let myself check how far i've run on my gps during a song... only at the end.  that way i'm only looking every five minutes or so & the miles just roll on by.

so what motivates you?  what "games" do you play with yourself on your runs or during your workouts?  what goals have you set for yourself & what do you do as a reward for achieving them?

i'd love to hear it all.

{linking up with the domestic wannabe's "move it monday"}

click to vote.  now step away from the computer & get moving!

more motivated than EVER.

i am so excited you guys.  i am like bouncing off the walls excited about the subject of today's post!

first off, i have to say i am more motivated than ever to change my eating habits & live a healthy life.  like, i don't think i will EVER be able to go back to the old way that i thought about food.  what changed me you ask?  ummm, a little movie called "Food, Inc."

holy crap.

we only caught a bit of it last night on PBS, but i am planning on watching it in its entirety asap.  if you want to know why you should buy some {most!} of your foods organic or locally, just watch that movie.  who's seen it & what did you think?  i was already pretty passionate about eating smartly & healthfully, but watching this movie has just added another gallon of fuel to the fire.

so here we go.  here are a few things that help me live a healthy & fit life.  and some things that i am always working on being better at!

last week i saw a quote that has really stuck with me.  it went something like:  "if you want to weigh what you've always weighed, then eat what you've always eaten."  so true.  but for me?  even more importantly than what the scale says, i hate the way i FEEL when i'm eating badly & i love the way i feel when i'm eating right.  so i've been telling myself:

"if you want to FEEL better than you've ever felt, then eat better than you've ever eaten."

ok, so it doesn't have the same snazzy ring to it, but you get the point.  how you feed your body makes such a huge impact on everything.  food is fuel & when we fill up on junk all we're gonna get out of it is junk.  after a few days of crappy eating, i feel uncomfortable in my clothes, things fit tighter, there's a noticeable change in how i feel overall.  but after i'm back on track for a while my clothes fit looser, i can hold my belly in tighter, & i have so much more energy.

so what am i doing?  eating whole, real foods, saying no to fast food, & using all kinds of portion control.  even if you eat healthy, when you eat too much of it it's still too much.

dude, you've got to plan.  keep your fridge, cupboard & purse stocked with healthy snacks so that in a pinch of hunger you won't be tempted to open a bag of cookies or buy a hot dog at the food court.  think almonds, apples, string cheese, & the such as.  also?  i plan to cheat.  i always eat something sweet after both lunch & dinner.  just one something.  a reese's miniature or a chunk of cookie dough.  when i am tempted to pop a second one i just tell myself, "nah, i'll have another one later."  and i do... after the next meal.

plan your meals & cook them yourself.  if you need ideas, check out sites like cookinglight.com or cleaneatingmag.com.  both are amazing resources for healthy meal ideas & if you're like me, you'll find way more tasty meals than you can fit in a year.

when serving up a meal, leave the serving dishes in the kitchen & don't put them on the dinner table.  you're way more likely to thoughtlessly shovel seconds & thirds onto your plate when it's staring you straight in the face next to your plate.  just serve up what you know is a good portion, eat it slowly, then sit on it for a while before getting up for more.  you may decide you don't need more after all.

and lastly, drink lots of water.  like, lots & lots.  then drink some more.  your body retains water when it's not hydrated so make sure you're filled up & it'll flush your body of the excess.  true story.

this is a must.  and probably my favorite part.  i really do love to work out.  i get super stir-crazy when i miss a work out & i seriously love the feeling of pushing through quivering, shaking muscles in order to knock out a few more reps.  love it.  but that has come as a result of years & years & years of regularly working out.  being physically active has always been really important to my mom, & i attribute my love of it to her.  so thanks mom!

not so in love with getting physical?  start slow.  go for walks or do calf raises while you brush your teeth.  take the stairs instead of the elevator & park far across the parking lot.  move quickly while you clean your house.  bored with your work outs?  mix it up!  muster some motivation by registering for a 5k or find a friend to walk with.  as long as you're doing something, it's gonna be better than nothing.

i'm also more motivated than ever to up my work out intensity.  why?  because i'm seeing results.  and that is motivating.  when you see your body changing, getting stronger, & doing things that it didn't used to be able to do?  you just want to push it that much harder & reinforce what you're doing.

give it a go!  you'll be amazed at what you're capable of.

try workin out your fingers & click twice to vote.  your strong fingers will thank you.  i will too.

mama-vation: my "diet" philosophy.

you said you liked it the last time i talked about what's been workin for me.  so here's some more.  my "mama-vational" spcheal for the day!

i definitely have some room for improvement, but overall i am pretty satisfied with where i'm at fitness & health-wise.  and you guys, i'm no expert.  but i have reached my post-baby weight goal & i wanna share what's worked for me.  but this is also pretty much the way i've lived the last five years & i'm pretty sure it's what i'll be doing for the rest of my life.

which brings me to philosophy number one:

repeat after me:  there is NO quick fix or one-week diet that is gonna get you healthy & make you lose gobs of weight.  throw away the diet pills, keep eating those {healthy} carbs, & step away from the cabbage soup.  sure there are some de-tox methods that might give you a little boost, if that's what you're looking for, but overall it's all about learning how to eat on a daily basis that you're gonna be able to manage for the rest of your life.

no, seriously.  if you think you're gonna use some drastic diet until you lose the 30 pounds you need to, & then go back to all your regular eating habits, you're gonna find yourself right where you started.  thirty pounds overweight, or maybe even more.

a good diet isn't a "diet".  it's a lifestyle.  the weight will come off slowly & gradually, but it will stay off because you are doing it for life.  it might mean making some hard changes like giving up your daily can of dr. pepper or a nightly bowl of ice cream, but just remember those things are what got you in this mess in the first place.

on most days, i use a calorie tracker on my iPhone to track my food & exercise stuff & make sure i'm where i need to be.  this probably isn't something you need to do every single day for the rest of your life but if you've never done it before i highly recommend doing it for a little while.  maybe just a week.  you might be surprised at how much you're eating when you grab a handful of cinnamon toast crunch every time you walk in the kitchen, or when you finish off those uneaten bites of pb&j from your kid's lunch.

for the most part i track what i eat almost everyday just because it keeps me accountable.  that doesn't mean i never go over my daily allowance, it just means that when i do, i know i did.  oops.

there are so many little changes you can make in your daily diet that will make huge differences in your daily caloric intake.  switch from 1% or 2% milk to fat free.  give it some time & i promise you'll be able to stomach the difference.  sam & i have been drinking skim milk for years & when we drink anything more it kinda grosses us out.  ew, who wants to drink fatty milk anyway?

other little changes that make big differences:

-use fat free sour cream & fat free mayo.  you really can't tell much of a difference & it's totally still satisfying.

-use ground turkey in spaghetti/taco/casserole/other meat dishes rather than ground beef.  don't start off with the 99% fat free stuff or else you'll notice a big difference.  start moderately & i bet your husband/kids/neighbor won't even know they're not eating red meat.

-buy slow churned ice cream.  i get dreyer's brand & it's got like 1/3 the fat & half the calories or something.  and it still tastes dang good.  buy it, & then use some portion control.

-cook using small amounts of extra virgin olive oil.  the monounsaturated fats in it are actually good for you & will keep your heart healthy.  want an even lower calorie option?  cook stuff using water.  you'd be surprised how you don't even need cooking oil when you fill up that skillet with some good ol' fashioned water instead.

this might sound counter-intuitive but every now & then i think it's healthy to fall off the wagon.  this is real life.  and every now & then i fall off.  hard.  but i'm not trying to walk the victoria's secret runway anytime soon & for me, a life without pizza or ice cream just isn't worth living.

and you know what?  having the occasional burger & splitting a milkshake with your husband on a friday night is fine.  going out to fast food & eating french fries & milkshakes for dinner regularly because you don't want to cook, isn't.  save the "bad" meals for special occasions.  it may feel like two steps forward & one step back, but that's ok.  this is life & it's your lifestyle.  it's not a sprint, it's a marathon!

just so long as you're consistently being "good" more than you're being bad, i think it's ok.  at least that's what i tell myself!

when you do fall off the wagon?  hurry up & get back on.  don't let it get you down & make sure you just keep on goin'.  sometimes when i find myself out with girlfriends eating potato skins & nachos at 10:30 pm {like last night!} i don't sweat it too much because i know tomorrow i'll be up gettin my work out on & eating healthy again.  i know i'm healthy more often than i'm not & i make sure of it.  so that way i can allow some wiggle room from time to time.

also, be nice to yourself.  recognize good decisions & give yourself a pat on the back for it.  it'll make you feel good.  when you do decide to forgo that blizzard on your way home from grocery shopping say to yourself, "hey, i made a good choice back there... way to go me."  then you start to realize you're doing these things just out of habit & the decisions will become easier.  

or at least that's what i've found!

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and now i'm realizing there is a LOT more than just these five things to a healthy lifestyle.  like, a lot.  i could write about this stuff all day you guys, but sometimes i have to change diapers & play with a certain little man {and parker too} so i can't.  i guess that just leaves more for later!

so what's working for you?  

two clicks for good eats!

mama-vation: what works for me.

i had no idea how hard it would be to resume "normal" life after having a baby.  before parker was born working out had always been a HUGE part of my life.  i even had TWO gym memberships.  one gym had awesome classes that i loved {anyone out there take Les Mills classes?  ahh, my FAVE} & the other had great equipment & a pool.  those were the days.

anywho, post-baby i found it real hard to get to the gym.  one of the gyms i belonged to didn't have daycare so i'd have to go while sam was around & when he would finally get home for the day, the last thing i wanted to do was run out the door to a spin class.  then the other gym did have daycare but it was 20 minutes away & i hated leaving my new baby in there with 30 other kids & two strangers to watch over him.  nothing was working & i was a very frustrated {out of shape} mama.

long crazy boring story short, when parker was about five months old i stumbled upon Stroller Strides.  now parker & i get to be outside together enjoying an instructed workout with classes six days a week with other moms & babies alongside.  we've met so many awesome moms through Stroller Strides & i feel like i'm back to my pre-baby workout-aholic self.

it is so easy to get up & get out the door when you know you're gonna get to see all your friends, all your kid's friends, & then hang out around the playground in the sun afterward.  i have said this so many times... every mom should do Stroller Strides.

the other day a photographer came & took some shots of us working out for the owner to use in her advertising.  and they make me happy.

doing a plank with arm raises... no big deal.

talking to my friend lindsey.  do you look this happy when you're working out?  you totally should.

it's fun for the kids too.  they get used to sitting in the stroller for an hour, i swear.  and sure there are days when they cry & fuss, but we're all moms & we don't mind.  it's awesome.  and afterwards, they get to get out & run around with other kids.  win-win.

why wouldn't you want a built in playdate 4-6x a week?

that's my leg.

if this sounds like a commercial, it's not.  i'm not getting anything for this.  i'm just extremely happy to have found something that keeps me motivated & in shape.  and that gets me out of the house {almost} everyday!  it's seriously a huge part of my life.

so there you have it.  my mama-vational schpeal for the day.  i kinda wanna do more fitness & health type posts from time to time since it's a pretty big deal to me.  is there anything you guys would be interested in hearing or seeing on the blog?  how have you managed to fit workouts into your post-baby life?  what works for you or what isn't working for you?

let me know.

and maybe spare a click or two?  then drop & give me twenty.  do it.