Fat Free/No Guilt/Guilt Free Labeling

I have been meaning to blog about this for quite some time now. In addition to being a Personal Trainer at Transform Fitness and Nutrition, I also work at a grocery store in the wee small hours of the morning. I try my best while working at this store to educate our customers on "healthier choices" and help them to eat better in general. A few months ago, we got in some "Reduced Guilt Guacamole". Let me start out by first saying that every premade guacamole that we carry is wonderful. It tastes good, has simple ingredients such as Avocados....and maybe some tomatos, onions and other spices depending on what you get. So here comes along this "Reduced Guilt Guacamole". Guacamole...as made primarily with avocados is a good fat. It is not the same as eating a milk chocolate bar, a piece of cake or anything else loaded with fat and carbs. It is a good fat that our bodies and brains need to get stronger. Similar to other good fats such as nuts, and fish oil. Fats are not bad!! Our society has brainwashed into thinking low fat is good. That couldn't be further from the truth! Now I am not telling you to go eat a whole bag of nuts...everything in moderation. I am, however telling you that in moderation, good fats help burn fat, and make you smarter! The thing they did with this "reduced guilt" guac..was to take out half of the avocado in a container and replace with greek yogurt. Greek yogurt...is good for you! However...why would you mess with a good thing? If you want greek yogurt, I would suggest getting some 2% Fage greek yogurt. (notice I did not say fat free!!) Add some berries to it if you need some sweetness. Full of protein and of course...good for you! Do not get the greek yogurt with syrups and sugar laden fruits on the side...this is defeating the purpose. As far as the guac..either make your own...or buy the full fat kind and enjoy it on some fresh veggies! One more common thing I hear from our customers..."Well, if I get the 'reduced guilt' I can eat the whole container!" Moderation people!! You do not NEED the whole container! Find a friend and share the real thing and enjoy! Have a wonderful day!!! Love you!

Transform Fitness & Nutrition

It's been a long time in the works, but I am official! My Personal Training business finally has a new name! Transform Fitness & Nutrition. I'm very excited about this and growing even more! I've got a website too! www.transformfitnessandnutrition.com. Check it out! It is still in the works and if for some reason it doesn't open when you go there from this blog, try back. I am working on making it live. I'm not by any means a web designer, so excuse me if it is not up to premium standards yet. It will be though! Just wait! I'm excited to expand and for what the future is going to bring! I've got big plans and big dreams but I'm going to make them all come true. Well, that is the exciting news for the day. As for what else has been going on in St. Charles, Missouri, pretty much the same. Been working a little at TJ's , traveling a little, training clients and training myself. I'm picking up new and fun things for the business every once and a while too! I'm also continuing to make my body better and stronger each day. I have not reached my goals yet. I never thought it would be overnight. When you have to constantly work for things, it makes it so much sweeter when you finish! Of course, I will never be finished..this is the new me, this is now my lifestyle! Let me add again the importance of having goals and writing them down! I find that it makes it so much easier when you can check things off of a list. Short term, long term...make a plan and do your best to stick to it every single day! My new challenge is up and going for the month of February on Facebook. Check out Suz's Daily Workout Challenges and request to join the group. It's quick, a whole lot of fun and a good way to start your day! Alright, gotta run...already up an hour past my bedtime! Goodnight all! :) Stay Strong!

It's 2013!

Remember when you were a kid and it seemed so far away to get o the year 2000? Remember Prince's song "1999"? Wow guys! It's 2013! I would say it makes me feel old, but no, it doesn't. I feel the youngest I have ever! The fact that I decided to be 26 forever helps too. ;) So much accomplished already today. Already got my challenge workout in, and soon I will do my full fledged deal. I took down the Christmas tres and all of the inside decorations. Everyone still sleeps. I have the fire going, a cup of hot green tea in hand, a magazine sitting here waiting for me to read before the rest of the family starts bustling about. That could be a while, we all stayed up until midnight and you know for me especially this is sooooooooo late! I remember just a couple of years ago being at our friends Dan and Jodies for New Years Eve and I fell asleep on the couch at their house at about 10, while everything happened around me. I know, I'm a Crazy party animal! Rachael's big thing since I'm not working today, is she wants to include me in her and Bob's breakfast dates they have been having lately. I'm so honored! Guess I will wait and not cook eggs like I kinda want right now. I had this dream last night that I ran a half marathon. Very strange... You know I'm not a fan of running! I don't know why, maybe I was thinking of Melissa of Nicole or Celeste or some of my runner friends. Not really sure... But I was running it, and it was nice out, like a spring day. I remember the crispness in the air but it wasn't cold or hot... It was perfect. I was in my five fingers and I seemed to be just gliding along the surface of the earth. I crossed the finish line and I remember thinking... Wow, not too bad! Then I woke up. It was 5:34am..... Very strange.

Happy 2013! New Challenge, new goals!

Happy New Year!, almost! Make 2013 your best year ever!! I certainly plan on doing that! I have some big goals for 2013. First of all, I'm going to make my business grow! I want to help as many people as I can get healthy and soon will have some exciting new classes as well very soon! I'll keep you posted!  It's not that I don't like Trader Joes, it's just that I want to pursue my passion and have my income be solely supported by that passion!  As far as my fitness goals.. I have some specific ones. I want to get leaner and stronger than I ever have been in my life! I have some specific goals that I'm sure you aren't interested in but when I hit them, I'm making new ones! It's so important to write down your goals too! I have everything I want to accomplish written down. It makes it more real and it makes me want to to it even more! What are your goals? Not just New Years resolutions.. But real goals that you aren't going to put on the back burner as soon as February is over. Think about it, really think about them and then write them down and then make them happen. This is your year! I know you can do it!! I really believe in each of you if you put your mind to it! I can help you! Your friends can help you. Just make up your mind to do it!! This is your year, 2013... I'll say it again! Go for it! Go get it!  Ok, onto the challenge..... I've been thinking about this today and I've decided that January is not going to be a progressive workout. I'll give you what I want you to do and do one round, two rounds, three... Whatever you can get in... Just keep moving. If you are doing more than one round, rest minute or two between sets.  Do in this order: 100 jump ropes (if you don't have a rope, fake it) 10 push-ups 10 squats 10 compound crunches (lie on your back, bring your straight legs up to meet your straight arms, repeat) 10 jump squats Plank If you have bad knees... Or a problem jumping, than modify the jumpsquats and jumprope... Get your heartrate up... Jog in place or something.  Please do this Every day along with Bootcamp or whatever your regular workouts consist of. You can do this! Start tomorrow January 1st! Lets start 2013 out right!!! Love you guys!! Keep me posted! 

IF IT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU......

I was thinking about this a lot yesterday. what is important to you? I have found that if something is important to you, you will make time and find time for it, no matter what it is. My priorities have changed over the past few years as well as the things that are important to me. I have found that I make time for the things I want to do. Last night was a prime example of this. After spending a lot of time driving, followed by sitting all day at the hospital, I felt like I needed to stay on my workout schedule. I really felt like I had a built in excuse to skip a day..I was tired, traveling, worn out.... But the more I thought of it.. The more I wanted to do it. I sent a FB shout out to my Aurora friends to find a place to exercise. Thankyou for all of the suggestions Robb, Roman and inviting me to our gyms. Anyway, my brother found a free trial online for this awesome complex that the hospital owns. I filled out the info and later in the day.. Off I went. It required I take a little tour, act like I was gonna join... But then it was off to business. Awesome workout, and I felt so good to have done it. I felt strong again for the first time in weeks. I make time to workout a couple times a month with the best trainer in the world. Is it worth my 6 hour round trip drive? Absolutley! I make time to have Coffee with friends when I don't have a lot of extra time, I work with fun people, I enjoy my kids and their sports, I go out on date nights with my husband, I love my church! So many things.. But so worth it all! I am happy! Do I have dreams and goals..yes! Have I made them all work yet...no! I'm not giving up,though. It will happen! What has become important to me has changed. The funny thing is, is not only do I find that I make time for things like God, family, friends, exercise... But what has become most important to me is the things that my family and friends find important. I seem to get such joy out of helping out others and finding purpose and meaning in the priorities of others. I spoke to one of my mom's nurses yesterday, her name was Eloise. It is probably what got me thinking. I just had gotten back from the gym and she made a comment about how that would take dedication to do that. She said that it was too hard sometimes to make time to exercise when she worked such long hours. I told her that she needed to make it a priority and she would find time for it. For me, that was getting up at the crack of dawn to workout... There tend to be few excuses not to at five in the morning. Let me say this again and again EARLY MORNING EXERCISING ELIMINATES EXCUSES! No excuses...that has been drilled into my head now for a whole and I try to live it. I was happy to learn that Eloise does exercise three or four times a week and combines strength training with her cardio. Yay! Alright, that's all I have for now. Let me end with this... Look at your priorities and make it happen. No excuses! You do have time...(to exercise, to eat healthy, to worship, to have coffee with a friend, insert other here).... If IT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU! :)

November, A month of thankfulness

I decided today I need to get back to blogging. I like to write, I'm a deep thinker, and I might as well use my Blog as an outlet, right? Anyway, waiting or the Bears to play Tennesee in an hour, I have a moment to write. This month seems to be all about giving thanks for things. I am a firm believer that we should be giving thanks every single day, but, I decided... What the heck.. I'll take a moment each day and find one thing and post it. I decided not to post in any order of importance, but just to choose what was weighing on my heart each day. Today, my post was about being thankful about my health. I could seriously write three pages on this subject but I'll sum it up rather quickly. I was so blessed when I met my friend Emily a couple years ago. I went in with an attitude that I would listen and do everything she would say if it would help me lose weight. That is how it started. Sure, there were things that I was not willing to give up, beer, wine, margaritas, tequila, dirty martinis, late nights out with the girls, weekend mornings of sleeping in and being lazy, among many other things. I was willing to do whatever Em said, as long as I could still have a little hold of my old life. What happened was something that even shocked me. All of a sudden, I started to lose weight, very consistently, not super quickly, but every single week. I started to trust this new friend I had, I started to respect her. I looked at her as an authority on healthy living. You know what the biggest reason was? Because it was WORKING! For the first time in my life I decided that maybe if I did EVERYTHING she said and went all in, maybe this time would make all of the difference. Maybe if I released the things "I just couldn't let go"...maybe just for a while... It would work. Guess what? I did it, it did work! I am all in and the strangest thing happened. It became important to me not just to lose weight, but to get strong! A friend of mine, Krissy invited me to give some personal training sessions a try with her just to take it to another level. When we went to our trainer together, it was a whole new level of challenges. That was a life changing difference! It made me realize the importance of strength. How strength is the key to health, to youth. You may be wondering what happened to my things I would not give up? Slowly but surely they became easier to give up. I was ALL IN! I still am all in. Because of this decision to get healthy, the whole world has changed for me. I became a NASM certified personal trainer. I'm trying to grow my business and expand on the things that are important to me. Helping others get what I have? Yes, it's THAT important to me! I know where others have been, because ai have been there! I still have the support of my friend Em, as a matter of fact, she is still helping me to get stronger. Together, she is helping me change my part of the world like she is doing where she lives. We all need someone, I'm lucky enough to have found the support of many friends, as well as a person who I met just a few years ago becoming one of my closest friends, to help encourage me along the way. How can I encourage you? What are you doing to get stronger? I would give anyone the tools if they just asked! It all starts with a positive attitude and most importantly a willing to CHANGE. Make this November a November of new beginnings, of new changes. Whether it is getting healthy, spending more time with family or friends, or doing something you have always dreamed of? Playing an instrument, traveling, or whatever? What are you waiting for? Do it now, do it today!

Jobless!

Got up this morning very positive today would be the day that I again had some sort of income. I did get two quick interviews with a manger and an owner, but so far no job. Seven more resumes and face to face meetings.. And still no job. I just am not sure what it is like not to work! Desperate times... I'm almost to the point of going back to the jobs I had when I was younger. Im just a little bummed out I guess.

I thought a little bit ago about going to the gym to exercise... Then got to sweeping the kitchen, doing some laundry and cleaning a little. Now I'm not feeling it. I'm procrastinating. I could create a real fun workout for myself outside... It's windy but its 65 out! I really wish I had some bleachers close by. Actually, I really wish I had some friends close by. After filling out an application at Salon De Christe... I had to drive by the community college oly to find bleachers that were not about 10 step high for the soccer field. Tha will just not do. I have a fun little circuit planned out in my head for my backyard, but it's just not as fun doing it alone.

Alright, I'm done venting... Time to get something done.