I’m back

Hello world! It’s been forever since I’ve posted last. I’ve just been so busy with family, friends, exercise, a new business and just every day life. Going forward my intention is to write in my blog twice a week.

So let me catch you all up to speed on what has been going on in my life with health and fitness. I’m currently taking online classes through NCCPT to get my CPT. I’m so very excited about this. I’ve had a passion for helping people get healthy for a few years now. I know exactly what it feels like to be in that place where you don’t know where to start, it’s so overwhelming. You think you’ll always be that way. You have no energy and you feel like a lost cause. I can’t wait to help people reach their goals!

I’ve also started a new business that focuses on helping people reach their goals in weight loss. I am an It Works Distributor with It Works! Global. This is an amazing company. They are most known for Ultimate Body Applicator. And while I do love the Applicator. I absolutely love their Greens Alkalizing drink so much more. I feel everyone should be on this product to alkalize their system. You can find more information at http://www.fitnsexywraps.com. I’ll touch more on this company in a future post.

So over the last two weeks, I’ve completed the Spartan Military Sprint Race with a few friends. This race consisted of 5 miles and 28 obstacles and for every failed obstacle you had to complete 30 burpees. Folks, let me tell you this was not an easy race. We had no clue what we were going up against either because they did not post a course map. I failed 3 obstacles of the 28 therefore I had to complete 90 burpees. Have I told you how I loathe burpees. We don’t have a great history together.   Our time for the entire race as a team was 2 hours and 23 minutes. It was challenging, and there were definitely moments when my mind was thinking ‘just give in’. But I had more in me…. I pushed through and I kept on going. I had a great team that inspired me to keep going as well. The best feeling was finishing! I can’t wait to do it again next year. I’ve attached a few photos from the race below:

 

Yesterday, I competed in the Alpha Games at Lifetime Fitness. I’ve never done anything like this but I thought hey why not? I’ll just go for it and see where I place, what I do good in and what I need to work on. I’ve been doing Crossfit for 8 months but this workout really wrecked me. There were so many times during this that I felt like puking. Lifetime was prepared for us pukers too, there were puke buckets next to most stations. Below I’ve included the actual workout and a few photos of my workout. I’ve realized I need to focus on thrusters and rowing. I thought my endurance was good but yesterday was a huge slap in the face. This is an area I need to focus on. So this is how I did; 55 deadlifts and 38 thrusters and for the endurance portion I completed it in 19:27. I have no clue how anyone could finish in the allotted 15 minutes. I’ve heard there has been only one person from our club that completed it in the 15 minute time limit.  It was tough, it was challenging, it was torture… but again it was awesome. I pushed my body to a place I didn’t think it could go. I’m glad I did it!

 

 

In both the competition and race, my mind wanted to give up, I know my body wasn’t ready to. It reminds me of this quote that I absolutely love. Remember that when your faced with a challenge this week. Push your body outside it’s comfort zone. You’ll be surprised at what you will accomplish! Have a fantastic week, world!

Shift

Sorry it’s been a few days since I’ve posted. It’s been busy around here. Can you believe it’s almost November?! Yikes, Christmas is just around the corner!

Okay, so I was talking to a friend this morning about instant gratification. I’m so proud of her. She wants to get healthy. She just joined a gym. She started these fitness classes too. So she’s working out consistently during the week. And she just started a food journal yesterday. But she’s a little frustrated because she’s not seeing any results. The scale isn’t moving at all! Now I’ve been where she’s been. I went through this when I first started, I needed that instant gratification. I needed to see the scale move. And that’s a tricky game to play. It got me into those yo-yo diets, fad diets… you know all the bad stuff. It just doesn’t work that way…. instant gratification never works. A paradigm shift needs to happen here. There isn’t a magic pill or diet or plan that will give you INSTANT results and last for the long term. The key is commitment, consistency, determination, hard work…. and patience. These components will bring you long term results. Progress may be slow, this is where patience comes in. Don’t give up. Keep putting in the effort. Stay the course… it’s so easy to give up. The hard part is being consistent. I promise it’s worth it. You are worth it.

Determination:

noun: a fixed purpose, the power and will to persist, resolve, to have the drive, to have the grit, to go the distance, to be hell-bent on reaching a goal and getting it done no matter what.

Have a great Wednesday!

S.

Choices

We had visitors last week. My sister and her man were in town visiting from Kansas City. On Friday, we decided we would go to Manitou Springs for the afternoon. Manitou is this cute little town with tons of little shops, arcades and cute eateries. I could literally spend all day there. My little ones, 5 and 7, had the day off from elementary school, due to President’s Day or something. We decided to sit and have lunch at one of the little bistros. It was a beautiful day so we sat on the patio. Our waiter brought us our menus. As my sister and her boyfriend were looking through their menu, I was trying to figure out what my littles were going to eat. The options on the menu were mac and cheese, chicken tenders and fries, burger and fries, quesadilla, and ham and cheese or turkey and cheese on brioche(which by the way, sounded super yummy). Anyway, my 7 year old son, Christian, decided as he typically does that he would get the chicken tenders with fries. But when I turned to my 5 year old daughter, Bella, to tell her the kid’s menu options she said she didn’t want any of the options she just wanted a salad. I thought, wow, way to go kid. But they didn’t have a salad as an option on the kid’s menu. I looked at my sister and she said well maybe they can make her a small side salad. Good point, I thought. The waiter came back and asked if we had any questions and of course I did. I asked him if the kitchen could make my daughter a small salad and he said that they don’t do that in their restaurant. It’s not their policy. They only do the large salads and that we could split one. I thought that was a little weird. I double checked with Bella to make sure she did in fact want the salad. She was adamant that that is all that she wanted. She did not care for anything that was on the kid’s menu.  So I ended up ordering a big salad and split it with her. And she was satisfied. The day turned out great, we played at the penny arcade. The kids had lots of fun.

But I’ve gotta revisit what happened. First of all, the options given on the kid’s menu weren’t that bad. I’m sure they weren’t the greatest in caloric and sodium content. But it wasn’t anything I was going crazy over. I don’t take my kids out to eat every day. I typically cook my family homemade meals. So this was a treat. Now, I know it wasn’t the waiter’s fault that they don’t serve smaller salads for kids either.  I don’t know why the restaurant wouldn’t offer this option to kids, why is this against policy? Maybe it’s not a big money maker. Okay, fine. But I’m not sure how anything on the kids menu would be a big money maker. Most of the stuff they just heat up anyway, right? Anyway, the truth is kids these days just don’t love healthy food. And they are, probably like most restaurants, trying to cater to that. Kids love foods high in saturated fat, fried foods, cheesy food, carb loaded food, I get it. That’s what we’ve groomed our kids to love. I said I get it but it doesn’t mean I agree. I certainly don’t endorse it. I think we need to start teaching our kids at a young age not only to make good choices in their relationships but for their health. These habits develop at such a young age and they are very hard to break.

Here are some facts I obtained from the CDC:

• Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.
• The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.
• In 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.^1,2

 

Also, I want to boast about my child for a little bit. Doesn’t every parent just love to do that? First let me say, this child loves her sweet treats. She loves her candy, ice cream, cookies, cake… anything with sugar. Let me just add though…. she only gets these sweet treats in moderation. Never in abundance. Okay… so that afternoon, she choose to pick the healthy option for lunch. Maybe it goes to show you that what you do as a parent, setting a good (or bad) example, really does affect your children. One of my reasons, for staying the course in this healthy lifestyle is to be a good example to my children. So they grow up with good healthy habits as children and adults. It’s very encouraging that at 5 years old, she understands. Of course, she wants sweet treats. Hey I still do sometimes… I had a brownie with ice cream last night. And it was yummy.

 

Smile and have a great day!

S.

 

 

Naysayers…

This has been nagging at me. For those of you who have started your journey to health and wellness… maybe you can relate. I’ve got some of these comments and frankly I’m really sick of it.  This is one of my struggle areas.

Here it goes:

 “you’re obsessed, you’re addicted to exercise, you’re crazy for being healthy, you need to give yourself a break and have a brownie or pizza or burger… etc., you need to stop being so hard on yourself, you’re making your health too much of a priority in your life, don’t get any more muscles you won’t look good.”

Seriously, people, I’m not making this up. I just don’t get it. This is MY thing, I want to be healthy. I strive to be healthy and for so many years I was living a sedentary lifestyle, eating crap and I was not happy. Now that I am happy, active, and full of energy…Why would they say these things to me now? I don’t go around telling them that they shouldn’t be eating that 5th or 6th slice of pizza or they shouldn’t be frequenting McD’s 5 times a week or drinking soda like it’s water or hey how about you lose 20 lbs, etc.

Let me address some of these so called ‘concerns’. First of all, let’s address the ‘obsessed or addicted’ remark… of course in the eyes of people who don’t typically enjoy working out…. I am!! You don’t enjoy it… I do, I enjoy the pain, the sweat, the being sore the next day, the bruises, it’s fun for ME! It’s like a drug for me… go ahead call me crazy. But listen, this is something I’ve chosen for myself not for YOU. If I choose to start my day off by going to the gym for an hour that’s my deal. How is this affecting you? It’s not! And it’s not hurting me, it’s only making me healthier. I don’t understand why I have to justify this to anyone. Additionally, I don’t understand the need for someone to tell me just because I’m making a good food choice that I should cut myself some slack and just have that bacon burger or whatever 1000 calorie food you’re trying to get me to eat. I’ve come a long freaking way in this journey. If you feel guilty about what you’re eating don’t try to bring me down by getting me to eat the same junk YOU are eating!! And by the way, I do treat myself. Thirdly, yes I’ve come a long way… but I am by no means perfect. Additionally, I’m not striving for perfection. I’ve posting this before…. this journey I’m on is always in progress. It’ll never stop. Everyone has flaws, and I believe everyone is their own worst critic. There are areas I want to focus on, there are areas I want to be better. By you telling me that I need to stop being so hard on myself does nothing but piss me off. It doesn’t encourage me, friend. I got to this point because I was hard on myself and worked my ass off. Did you think that this shit came easy? I put a hell of a lot of sweat, pain and determination into this! I’m nowhere near giving up! Also, I’m making my health too much of a priority… say what?!?! Did you just hear yourself?! That’s probably the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I have one body… ONE! YOU have one body! I should treat it as a prized possession. Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, it all runs in my family. I don’t want to be on tons of medication. If I can prevent any one (or all) of these things from happening to me. Why wouldn’t I? I can make that happen. If I can be a good example for my kids so they grow up with healthy lifestyles. Why wouldn’t I make my health a priority… I love myself that much! I love my family that much to make my health a priority. And lastly, ‘the don’t get any more muscles thing’. Listen, this is my body. I choose what I do with it. And if I choose to have muscles upon muscles upon muscles I will do it. You may not like it, that is your opinion. And you are certainly entitled. I am also entitled my opinion. But I’ve had the decency to not tell you what I think. Let me reiterate…. I’m not harming myself. Until I start harming myself or solicit your opinion, please refrain from saying these things. I was harming myself before when I was 190+ lbs… you didn’t say anything then. Why now… why now when I look great. When I feel great. I won’t be pulled down. I’ll keep going with every bit of determination… if not more.

Thanks for listening to my rants today.

S.

Let’s talk food

So that’s where it began. Food. Let me take you back 5 1/2 years ago, we were living in Kansas, I was a wife and working mother to 3 children (our children were 10, 2 and a newborn), working 45-50 hours a week as a Supervisor at a Natural Gas Company. After getting up at 6:30 am getting kids up, ready, and off to school and daycare centers, then work, I was so pooped that my family was lucky enough to get a meal out of a box….warmed up. I was a mom of convenience. But in Nov. 2007, our lives changed, my husband accepted a job across the country in North Carolina which meant I was able to stay home with our kids. So having more time on my hands I starting reading, I picked up a couple of books about food. The first one was “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, some people love this book and some people don’t. I liked this book a lot. It really started to open my eyes to food, the processed junk. I began to research and read more, reading books by Michael Pollan and Jordan Rubin and a few other authors. It was a bit overwhelming. But I had to start somewhere. So I did… where I began was soda. I stopped drinking soda in May 2008, it wasn’t that hard to stop since I was drinking diet and what I read about aspartame scared the crap out of me. I did not want any of the unwanted side effects from that crap.  So I stopped drinking it. And I wasn’t about to switch to regular soda with high fructose corn syrup which on average has 30g of sugar, no way! So I quit… I started to drink water… and lots of it. I drank lemon water, lime water, cucumber water. Now, the first thing I do when I get up in the morning is have a full glass of water before I do anything else. It’s good for you! Ok, so moving on… I probably won’t make a complete list of the things I purged, just a few basics. Also, if someone is reading this and they are wanting to eat healthier. Please don’t think this was a quick change for me. This took time… almost a year for the shift. The next thing I did was switch from white to wheat, this included breads and pastas. It took a little while for our family to get used to both… mainly the pasta. Then I moved on from white rice to brown. I started excluding foods with high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils. I stopped buying canned fruits and vegetables and bought fresh. I know that’s hard to do and can get expensive. Sometimes I buy frozen, they are so much better than canned. I started making my own seasoning for dinners. I had everything in my spice rack. For the most part, we stopped eating at fast food restaurants. That wasn’t hard. I watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyDXH1amic and was grossed out FOR LIFE! I switched to olive oil and coconut oils. Of course, we still eat meat, just not a lot of red meat, I’ve incorporated a lot of lean cuts. I switched from margarine to REAL butter! Yes, REAL butter. Real is always better than fake any day of the week. I stopped buying fat free, low fat anything. Those products are not good for you, they have more ingredients than the real thing. Take for instance half and half, regular half and half has maybe 4 ingredients….. fat free half and half has about 10-15. I love Michael Pollan’s philosophy…. EAT. REAL. FOOD. So that’s what I started to do. I started to cook with real food, I got rid of anything boxed and quick to make. And I started making my family real meals. As I stated in my first post, the weight slowly started to come off. Of course it did…. I was giving my body REAL food.  So I stuck with it.

So fast forward to today…

I eat quite often. I snack constantly during the day. I eat about 4-5 times a day. Because I’m no longer sedentary and am highly active, my body needs it. I have to have a few key items in my pantry and fridge. I have to have these items around for breakfast: eggs, spinach, oatmeal, non-fat greek yogurt, granola, bananas. Lunches are pretty easy: tuna, white fish, steamed veggies, chicken, salad, quinoa. I snack on things like nuts, hummus and veggies, cheese, apples, bananas, tuna, celery, carrots, edamame. Within 30-60min of getting home from the gym every day, I have a protein shake with 40g of protein, 13g of carbs and 2000mg of L-Glutamine.  Because I’m on the run a lot of the time, I keep snacks like nuts and fruit with me in the car and a full water bottle. I never have to stop at a gas station to buy anything processed because I’m starving or thirsty. For me, planning works. Knowing that I have the things I need for a successful day helps me. I’m not tempted to pick up something that I’ve set aside for the kids like a granola bar or crackers. I have the food I need.

Am I perfect? Pfffft… heck no. If the health food gurus were to audit me right now I’d probably get a C. But I’ve made some real key changes and this journey that I’m on is always in progress and always moving forward.

I hope this helps at least one person.

Thanks for reading!

Salina

Hey, Fat Girl

So I’ve seen this on a friend’s blog and in another forum. And this letter speaks volumes to me even now… I cry every single time I read it. I was this girl.

******************************************
Hey, Fat Girl.

Yes, you. The one feigning to not see me when we cross paths on the
running track. The one not even wearing sports gear, breathing heavy. You’re slow, you breathe hard and your efforts at moving forward make you cringe.

You cling shyly to the furthest corridor, sometimes making larger loops on the gravel ring by the track just so you’re not on it. You sweat so much that your hair is all wet. You rarely stay for more than 20 minutes at a time, and you look exhausted when you leave to go back home. You never talk to anyone. I’ve got something I’d like to say to you.

You are awesome.

If you’d look me in the eye only for an instant, you would notice the
reverence and respect I have for you. The adventure you have started is tremendous; it leads to a better health, to renewed confidence and to a brand new kind of freedom. The gifts you will receive from running will far exceed the gigantic effort it takes you to show up here, to face your fears and to bravely set yourself in motion, in front of others.

You have already begun your transformation. You no longer accept this physical state of numbness and passivity. You have taken a difficult decision, but one that holds so much promise. Every hard breath you take is actually a tad easier than the one before, and every step is ever so slightly lighter. Each push forward leaves the former person you were in your wake, creating room for an improved version, one that is stronger, healthier and forward-looking, one who knows that anything is possible.

You’re a hero to me. And, if you’d take off the blaring headphones and put your head up for more than a second or two, you would notice that the other runners you cross, the ones that probably make you feel so inadequate, stare in awe at your determination. They, of all people, know best where you are coming from. They heard the resolutions of so many others, who vowed to pick up running and improve their health, “starting next week”. Yet, it is YOU who runs alongside, who digs from deep inside to find the strength to come here, and to come back again.

You are a runner, and no one can take that away from you. You are
relentlessly moving forward. You are stronger than even you think, and you are about to be amazed by what you can do. One day, very soon, maybe tomorrow, you’ll step outside and marvel at your capabilities. You will not believe your own body, you will realize that you can do this. And a new horizon will open up for you. You are a true inspiration.

I bow to you.

 

 

 

*****************************************************

 

Ok, I must admit when I first started to read it… it rubbed me the wrong way. With the title of it being ‘Hey, Fat Girl’, I thought man that’s not a good way to address that letter but then I got down to meat of the letter. And it really made me break. I can totally relate to this. There are days that that girl still wants to come out and play and I question myself walking into the gym. It sucks. But I have to remember I’ve overcome so many obstacles, I’ve come a long way on this journey. I’ve fought and I’ve won. I won’t go back there… not ever. I’m stronger and more determined now than ever to keep going with this.

Thanks for reading!

Salina

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Saw this as I’m heading out for my morning work out. New blog post up later…..

 

Today’s WOD

So I hooked up with this group of Crossfiter’s and they are intense. I see them in the gym, they are dripping in sweat, they don’t play games….and they are busting it out. And they are way out of my league. I do love working out with them because they are very encouraging. They were kind enough to invite me to join them a couple of weeks back, so I’ve finally took them up on their offer. And today was my second official Crossfit WOD and it was killer.

Today’s workout:

Three rounds for time of:
100 meter Walking lunge
Handstand walk 20 meters
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood

Now I had to do some modifications for the walking handstands, I attempted to do it but failed miserably. And that’s okay, I can work my way up to it. Someday I will complete it. So instead I did 10 wall climbs for 2 rounds and the last round I did 20 push ups. My time was 31:45. There were moments I felt physically ill, there were moments I wanted to throw my hands up and say I’m done. Seriously I looked at Jessie during our second round of wall climbs and said this is a moment I feel like quitting. She looked at me and said we got this. She was right! The best feeling was when we finished. My adrenaline was kicking. I felt good. I achieved the goal I set before myself.

So the point of this post coincides with my first post. A lot of the time; getting healthy, eating better, working out, trying something you’ve never done before seems a bit overwhelming. But you’ve gotta remember you are so much stronger than you realize. You’ve gotta dig deep, the strength is in there. No one but you can make you do it. Encouragement is fabulous, I love it when my friends are cheering me on but ultimately you are the one that will have to make it happen. You have to decide…. do you want it enough.  Are you determined enough… are you committed… and follow through. It’s okay to have hiccups along the way, we’re human it’s gonna happen. But learn from it…. pick yourself back up. And push yourself harder.

Antoinne and Jason 2nd round, handstands. Killing it!

Tomorrow is our rest day and Sunday we’re all meeting for the 3 bars of death. We’re gonna die.

This is me now….

This is me about a month ago… 18% body fat.

 

My first post

Hello world! My name is Salina. Welcome to my blog. I’m a wife and a mother of 3. I have been on a journey to getting healthy for it seems like my whole adult life. After having my first baby my body changed drastically. I wasn’t this tiny little petite thing anymore, my body was transformed and rightfully so, my body had cared for a beautiful baby for 9 months. But after the 6 week check up and so on, I struggled with my weight…. for a while. I went on fad diets, on Weight Watchers, took diet pills and I even skipped meals to try to lose weight to fit into that perfect outfit. At my heaviest I weighed over 200 lbs and I was a size 16, I was in a fog, I felt sluggish, always tired and not happy with myself. So about 4 years ago something changed, first of all I started reading about what’s in our food and how processed our food is, it made me sick. I couldn’t believe I was feeding my family junk.  Second, I was sick and tired of feeling the way that I did, sluggish, tired, not happy, no energy, and realized there was no magic pill that could make me lose the weight and there it was a light bulb went off. So I began to purge our cupboards, very slowly. One or two things every couple of weeks, first soda, then white flour, white rice, HCFS, partially hydrogenated oils, MSG, etc. The pounds slowly started to come off. Then my husband and I joined a gym, and I started this weight training class, I did it twice a week. I had this amazing instructor named Wendy and she pushed me to start running. So I started the Couch to 5K program. I must admit I didn’t fall in love with running. In fact, I hated it, I loathed running but I stuck with it. I had pretty much cut out junk, started clean eating about 80% of the time and started moving my butt. The weight was slowly but consistently dropping and I was happier, I had more energy, going to the gym was habit forming, addicting. Fast forward to today; I am now a size 2 or 4 (depending on what brand I wear) and I’m a solid 135 lbs with 18% body fat. Remember I mentioned I hated running, I don’t anymore, sure I have crappy running days. But honestly, I love running. I’m one of those runners that gets jealous when I see another runner and I haven’t ran that day. I weight train 4-5 days a week, I’ve recently taken up yoga and boxing. I prepare almost every single meal my family eats. I’m happy where I’m at. I couldn’t imagine going back to that place I was 4 years ago. This blog is about the ins and outs of my journey, what works for my life. I know how it feels to be overwhelmed, to feel like there’s this massive mountain and there’s no way you can conquer it. But I’m here to tell you…. You can and you will conquer it. I’m proof.

Here I am at 190lbs: