Week three and I couldn't be happier. I feel great! My energy is through the roof compared to how I felt a few weeks ago. It's amazing how much our bodies love being taken care of. I've been eating smart and drinking my water. Life is good!
I have added a few new items to my daily routine on this journey. The first is an essential oil by a company called doTERRA. The company was formed in the Spring of 2008 when a group of healthcare and business pro's who shared profound personal experiences with the life-enhancing benefits of essential oils, came together with the common vision of bringing a new standard of therapeutic grade essential oils to the world. doTERRA offers a variety of essential oils that can be applied topically or ingested. I'm taking "Slim & Sassy" Metabolic Blend. It's a proprietary formula of grapefruit, lemon, peppermint, ginger and cinnamon essential oils. You add 8 drips to 16oz of water & drink it between meals throughout the day. If you do that three times a day then you've drank 48 ounces of water too! It helps manage hunger, calms the stomach and lift your mood. It's 100% essential oils and it doesn't contain any stimulants or diuretics and it has ZERO calories! I'm telling you, this stuff really works. I've notices a huge difference in my cravings. They're pretty much gone. That's right....gone! I know! It's awesome. I have more energy but I'm not jittery. I have to warn you though, they are pure essential oils and are very fragrant. Because of this, I like to drink the oils as a shot and then follow with more water. So I just drop eight drips under my tongue and then take a swig of water, followed by more water. It leaves my mouth feeling minty clean! Because the peppermint aids in digestion, I haven't been getting bloated during the day. It's awesome people! If you're in my the Nashville area you can find it at The Herbal Heart. They are right next door to my hair studio, The Hair Mafia on Bransford Ave.
The second item I've added is the purchase of a blender that makes great smoothies and much more. I purchased the NINJA BL700. I'm not going to go into everything it does, but it's pretty amazing. Just google it and you'll see what I'm talking about. Then buy it! You'll love it. I make my smoothies with frozen fruit, almond milk or orange juice and a scoop of vanilla flavored whey protein. Can you say YUM! This is a great way to get your fruits in for the day and when you add the protein...BAM! It's a real energy booster and filling too.
The third thing I've added is an activity. SPRING CLEANING! It's that time of year. I'm doing squats, lifting furniture and going up and down stairs. What a great work out. My trainer, Ben ( at HG Fitness Center in Spring Hill, TN), told me that cleaning really is a great way to work out and boy is he ever right! And my house isclean and organized again...until next Spring..ha!
Speaking of Ben, I've committed to a year of training with him and he says he's going to hold me accountable. So I GOTTA do it....cuz I've already paid! I'll see Ben once a week and he'll give me a weekly training routine. Then, I'm on my own for the rest of the week but knowing that he will be measuring me, weighing me (I told him I don't care what I weigh & that I just want to feel and look healthy) and tracking my progress will keep me on track. Plus, I really like training. It's fun!
Until next week my healthy followers: love, love, love yourself and give, give, give your body what it needs. You only have one body and you need it to take your through this wonderful journey that is life. Treat it like a fancy sports car.....extra special. You can do it. You just GOTTA! xo Heidi
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Proper Shoes....DO NOT attempt Zumba in "shape up" wedge tennishoes!
What an amazing week! Spring storms, busy work schedule and lots of cardio. It just goes to show that with a little bit of planning we can make time for exercise and good nutrition.
I normally write new posts for my blog on Mondays but I wanted to wait until after I had met with my personal trainer. I was scheduled to meet with him this last Monday and it ended up being a crazy weather day for most of Tennessee, so I had to reschedule. We met today and it was great. What a difference it makes to have someone motivating you and saying to you, "Come on! You can do it. Give me 5 more! Give it everything you have! You got it"! It's awesome to have that encouragement.
I've been doing cardio 5 days a week on my elliptical trainer at home and really love it. I just plug in my ear phones and tune into Pandora. The techno channel is great for working out. So the home workouts are 30 to 45 minutes of elliptical and I am dripping with healthy sweat when I finish. But I know me, and I get bored so I found out about a new gym in my neck of the woods and decided to check it out. It's called HG Fitness center and is located in Spring Hill, TN (about 10 minutes from my house). They have cardio equipment galore, a full weight area, a boxing room, free tanning and a great selection of classes. All of this for $30 a month!
I really enjoy going to the gym to change things up a little. I usually do 20 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes on the treadmill and then finish with 20 minutes on the bike. Awesome way to get an hour of cardio and it goes by fast. Must have my music and head phones. They make a huge difference.
Part of my membership includes 2 FREE sessions with a trainer. The day I signed up there was a trainer thee who also moved to Tennessee from California. His name is Ben and he knows his stuff! So, after chatting with Ben for a bit, I decided to sign up for a session with him. We met at the gym today and discussed my goals, nutrition and weight training. Then, he worked my butt off! I did exercises I had never done before and he didn't go easy on me. Again, having someone encourage you and be your cheerleader makes all the difference. And this trainer did just that. Today we worked on shoulders, back and abs. Ben told me I'll be sore tomorrow and as I'm writing this post, I can already feel that I will be! Afterwards I did my elliptical, treadmill and bike workout. I felt amazing when I left the gym. Gotta love those endorphins! I meet with Ben again next Monday and will continue to meet with him once a week and weight train three times a week. Weight training is important but often overlooked. We need to build a little muscle to increase our metabolism and burn that nasty fat. How I do hate that nasty fat.
Another new aerobic activity that I discovered I love is Zumba! This is one of the classes that HG Fitness offers. Wowee..what a work out that was! Word of advice to y'all though: Make sure you wear the proper shoes when taking Zumba or any other type of aerobic class. I had on my "shape ups" and it was difficult to keep my balance. I looked so funny when I saw myself in the mirror but I was having so much fun, I just kept going. Zumba is a salsa dance style class and if you haven't tried it...you should! But don't be fooled, it really kicks your butt. Probably because you actually shake your butt ALOT in Zumba class! You GOTTA try it!
The Nike store is a great place to get work out shoes. The staff is very knowledgeable and helped me pick out what I needed. Because I'm going to be a frequent Zumba attendee, I got the Reebok dynamic Step Lo (it's an Avon shoe). It doesn't have alot of tread so it makes it easier to Zumba and slide around the floor. For walking, running and elliptical I got the Reebok Premier Verona KFS II. This shoe has an abundance of technology built into it that I can't begin to explain.. All I remember the staff telling me about it, is that it allows your feet to breath and stay cool. I can tell you that it is very comfortable and made a world of difference on the treadmill and elliptical today. If you live in Nashville, head over to the Reebok store at 100 Oaks in Berry Hill. They're having a buy one get one half off or buy two get one free sale! I got a great deal on my new workout shoes :-) They also have a large selection of work out clothing.
So, nutrition. I've been sticking to my original plan which was to stay away from dairy for now and cut back on the sugar and fat. I try and eat a salad every day. So far so good. I've learned that it's very important to have a small snack between meals too. Believe it or not, when you're body becomes too hungry, your metabolism slows down. No! No! No! We DO NOT want our metabolism to slow down do we? Absolutely not! So keep some nuts and veggies handy. I get very busy at the salon so this is something I'm working on but getting better at it.
So far, my journey is going very well. I believe that it's because I've been expecting it to go well all along. But I'm only human and I have to admit that I did catch myself starting to get impatient about not seeing more results. Then I said to myself, "Heidi, you've been on this journey for 2 weeks and you're doing great. Don't beat yourself up"! And I got back on track. Sometimes our brains can be silly and we just have to straighten ourselves out. We all get a little crooked sometimes.
I couldn't have asked for a better week and look forward to the weeks ahead. Until my next post I say these words to you: Love yourself and your body and know that you are worth what ever time you need to make for you. Give yourself a big hug and tell yourself that you're worth it. You only have one life and it deserves to be the best. So, get off that tush already! YOU JUST GOTTA! Love y'all! xoxo
I normally write new posts for my blog on Mondays but I wanted to wait until after I had met with my personal trainer. I was scheduled to meet with him this last Monday and it ended up being a crazy weather day for most of Tennessee, so I had to reschedule. We met today and it was great. What a difference it makes to have someone motivating you and saying to you, "Come on! You can do it. Give me 5 more! Give it everything you have! You got it"! It's awesome to have that encouragement.
I've been doing cardio 5 days a week on my elliptical trainer at home and really love it. I just plug in my ear phones and tune into Pandora. The techno channel is great for working out. So the home workouts are 30 to 45 minutes of elliptical and I am dripping with healthy sweat when I finish. But I know me, and I get bored so I found out about a new gym in my neck of the woods and decided to check it out. It's called HG Fitness center and is located in Spring Hill, TN (about 10 minutes from my house). They have cardio equipment galore, a full weight area, a boxing room, free tanning and a great selection of classes. All of this for $30 a month!
I really enjoy going to the gym to change things up a little. I usually do 20 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes on the treadmill and then finish with 20 minutes on the bike. Awesome way to get an hour of cardio and it goes by fast. Must have my music and head phones. They make a huge difference.
Part of my membership includes 2 FREE sessions with a trainer. The day I signed up there was a trainer thee who also moved to Tennessee from California. His name is Ben and he knows his stuff! So, after chatting with Ben for a bit, I decided to sign up for a session with him. We met at the gym today and discussed my goals, nutrition and weight training. Then, he worked my butt off! I did exercises I had never done before and he didn't go easy on me. Again, having someone encourage you and be your cheerleader makes all the difference. And this trainer did just that. Today we worked on shoulders, back and abs. Ben told me I'll be sore tomorrow and as I'm writing this post, I can already feel that I will be! Afterwards I did my elliptical, treadmill and bike workout. I felt amazing when I left the gym. Gotta love those endorphins! I meet with Ben again next Monday and will continue to meet with him once a week and weight train three times a week. Weight training is important but often overlooked. We need to build a little muscle to increase our metabolism and burn that nasty fat. How I do hate that nasty fat.
Another new aerobic activity that I discovered I love is Zumba! This is one of the classes that HG Fitness offers. Wowee..what a work out that was! Word of advice to y'all though: Make sure you wear the proper shoes when taking Zumba or any other type of aerobic class. I had on my "shape ups" and it was difficult to keep my balance. I looked so funny when I saw myself in the mirror but I was having so much fun, I just kept going. Zumba is a salsa dance style class and if you haven't tried it...you should! But don't be fooled, it really kicks your butt. Probably because you actually shake your butt ALOT in Zumba class! You GOTTA try it!
The Nike store is a great place to get work out shoes. The staff is very knowledgeable and helped me pick out what I needed. Because I'm going to be a frequent Zumba attendee, I got the Reebok dynamic Step Lo (it's an Avon shoe). It doesn't have alot of tread so it makes it easier to Zumba and slide around the floor. For walking, running and elliptical I got the Reebok Premier Verona KFS II. This shoe has an abundance of technology built into it that I can't begin to explain.. All I remember the staff telling me about it, is that it allows your feet to breath and stay cool. I can tell you that it is very comfortable and made a world of difference on the treadmill and elliptical today. If you live in Nashville, head over to the Reebok store at 100 Oaks in Berry Hill. They're having a buy one get one half off or buy two get one free sale! I got a great deal on my new workout shoes :-) They also have a large selection of work out clothing.
So, nutrition. I've been sticking to my original plan which was to stay away from dairy for now and cut back on the sugar and fat. I try and eat a salad every day. So far so good. I've learned that it's very important to have a small snack between meals too. Believe it or not, when you're body becomes too hungry, your metabolism slows down. No! No! No! We DO NOT want our metabolism to slow down do we? Absolutely not! So keep some nuts and veggies handy. I get very busy at the salon so this is something I'm working on but getting better at it.
So far, my journey is going very well. I believe that it's because I've been expecting it to go well all along. But I'm only human and I have to admit that I did catch myself starting to get impatient about not seeing more results. Then I said to myself, "Heidi, you've been on this journey for 2 weeks and you're doing great. Don't beat yourself up"! And I got back on track. Sometimes our brains can be silly and we just have to straighten ourselves out. We all get a little crooked sometimes.
I couldn't have asked for a better week and look forward to the weeks ahead. Until my next post I say these words to you: Love yourself and your body and know that you are worth what ever time you need to make for you. Give yourself a big hug and tell yourself that you're worth it. You only have one life and it deserves to be the best. So, get off that tush already! YOU JUST GOTTA! Love y'all! xoxo
Monday, April 4, 2011
NOT EVEN A TORNADO CAN STOP ME!
Hello GOTTA followers!
I'm sitting in my car plugged into the battery because the power is out in our neighborhood. We're under a tornado watch and have had some nasty weather come through this afternoon. But I wasn't going to let a silly tornado hold me back. My workout today was interrupted by crazy wind and my husband had to drag me off the elliptical trainer to go down into the cellar 20 minutes into my workout. I was quite irritated by this but safety first. Once the weather cleared, I got back on and worked out another 25 minutes.
It's been a week since I began my journey and I feel great! I actually get excited about working out and challenging myself. My goal was to do 30 minutes of cardio and work up to 45 minutes. I didn't think I could accomplish that in a week but so far all is going well. I just go with the flow and if I feel like working out longer, then I do. Yesterday I was on the elliptical trainer for 1 hour! Take that perimenopause!!!
Oh yes, I do believe I'm in Perimenopause. Ya, you know, that emotional roller coaster caused by our hormones going bizerk? Restless sleeping, and that lovely muffin top thing? Uh hu, you know what I'm talking about ladies. But you know what? I embrace all the changes my body will go through and I love, love, love being in my 40's! I refuse to turn this time of my life into a negative. Our bodies are amazing, beautiful and mysterious sometimes but they're who we are and you GOTTA love yourself no matter what shape or size.
I've been making healthy eating choices but not stressing out if a situation arises that I go off track a bit. A friend of mine, who's a personal trainer and nutritionist, reminded me last week that just because we may get off track it doesn't mean we have to throw in the towel. It's just one meal, or one day. Just like I had to get off that elliptical trainer while the storm came through and got back on afterwards.
Last Friday, my husband and I took the morning off to take care of some personal business. We finished up early and decided to go have breakfast. We went to "Marcy Jo's", in Columbia TN, which I highly recommend! Everything is fresh and yummy. They bake all their own bread! I know you're probably thinking, "why in the heck is Heidi talking about home made bread and going out to breakfast on her blog about getting healthly". Well, my point is that we're all human and it's o.k. to let loose sometimes. The mistake I've made in the past is that I tend to get too obsessive about my diet and then I fail. I'm not doing that this time. This ISN'T a diet. It's truley a life style change. So, back to breakfast at Marcy Jo's! My husband had Rory's Overall breakfast, which he highly recommends, and I had the special which was two eggs, bacon and two pancakes (the BEST pancakes in the world)! I had my eggs, some of the bacon and one of the pancakes. My husband happily ate the other pancake. This is "my" journey, not my husband's. Oh and I had orange juice because I had already had coffee in the morning. And you know what? I enjoyed my breakfast and got back on track for the remainder of the day. Wow! Who would of thought? LOL
One week into my cleaner and more active life style, I feel happier, healthier and less bloated! Ha! Staying away from the dairy and drinking water all day long has made a HUGE difference. I can already notice a difference in how my clothes fits too. I'm pretty sure my skin appreciates all the water intake as well.
So, until next week. I hope you all live every day to it's fullest and treat your bodies and souls with love and respect. Feed your body healthy food and feed your soul with positive thoughts! And remember...GET OFF THAT TUSH ALREADY...you just GOTTA! I love you!
I'm sitting in my car plugged into the battery because the power is out in our neighborhood. We're under a tornado watch and have had some nasty weather come through this afternoon. But I wasn't going to let a silly tornado hold me back. My workout today was interrupted by crazy wind and my husband had to drag me off the elliptical trainer to go down into the cellar 20 minutes into my workout. I was quite irritated by this but safety first. Once the weather cleared, I got back on and worked out another 25 minutes.
It's been a week since I began my journey and I feel great! I actually get excited about working out and challenging myself. My goal was to do 30 minutes of cardio and work up to 45 minutes. I didn't think I could accomplish that in a week but so far all is going well. I just go with the flow and if I feel like working out longer, then I do. Yesterday I was on the elliptical trainer for 1 hour! Take that perimenopause!!!
Oh yes, I do believe I'm in Perimenopause. Ya, you know, that emotional roller coaster caused by our hormones going bizerk? Restless sleeping, and that lovely muffin top thing? Uh hu, you know what I'm talking about ladies. But you know what? I embrace all the changes my body will go through and I love, love, love being in my 40's! I refuse to turn this time of my life into a negative. Our bodies are amazing, beautiful and mysterious sometimes but they're who we are and you GOTTA love yourself no matter what shape or size.
I've been making healthy eating choices but not stressing out if a situation arises that I go off track a bit. A friend of mine, who's a personal trainer and nutritionist, reminded me last week that just because we may get off track it doesn't mean we have to throw in the towel. It's just one meal, or one day. Just like I had to get off that elliptical trainer while the storm came through and got back on afterwards.
Last Friday, my husband and I took the morning off to take care of some personal business. We finished up early and decided to go have breakfast. We went to "Marcy Jo's", in Columbia TN, which I highly recommend! Everything is fresh and yummy. They bake all their own bread! I know you're probably thinking, "why in the heck is Heidi talking about home made bread and going out to breakfast on her blog about getting healthly". Well, my point is that we're all human and it's o.k. to let loose sometimes. The mistake I've made in the past is that I tend to get too obsessive about my diet and then I fail. I'm not doing that this time. This ISN'T a diet. It's truley a life style change. So, back to breakfast at Marcy Jo's! My husband had Rory's Overall breakfast, which he highly recommends, and I had the special which was two eggs, bacon and two pancakes (the BEST pancakes in the world)! I had my eggs, some of the bacon and one of the pancakes. My husband happily ate the other pancake. This is "my" journey, not my husband's. Oh and I had orange juice because I had already had coffee in the morning. And you know what? I enjoyed my breakfast and got back on track for the remainder of the day. Wow! Who would of thought? LOL
One week into my cleaner and more active life style, I feel happier, healthier and less bloated! Ha! Staying away from the dairy and drinking water all day long has made a HUGE difference. I can already notice a difference in how my clothes fits too. I'm pretty sure my skin appreciates all the water intake as well.
So, until next week. I hope you all live every day to it's fullest and treat your bodies and souls with love and respect. Feed your body healthy food and feed your soul with positive thoughts! And remember...GET OFF THAT TUSH ALREADY...you just GOTTA! I love you!
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