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MOTIVATION FOR WOMEN: Strong Women Lift (each other up)
Yesterday I saw a post from one of our struggling future first-time competitors in our private Bikini Boot Camp group on facebook. She has been totally rocking, her body is leaning out, she looks amazing, but since life happens (and all the junk that comes with it), she got a wave of doubt and began to lose motivation. So she reached out to the rest of the girls for encouragement.
It just so happened I already had created this quote for today’s blog, so I shared it with her (and the rest of the girls) along with this note. After I posted it, I decided I’d share some of it with you in hopes of giving you some encouragement too.
“This goes out to all the girls out there struggling, feeling weak, unmotivated, tired, sore, hungry, grumpy, teary-eyed, frustrated, full of doubt…
You can do this! This isn’t just about getting a hot body. It’s about being YOUR best! It’s about being healthy, taking care of the body God gave you. We all have “weak” friends, family members and people who NEED us to be STRONG for THEM! This isn’t just about you, it’s about who you can be for everyone you love and everyone who loves you. The happier you are, the better mom, wife, friend, co-worker, neighbor you are. If you can’t love yourself, you can’t love anyone else – because you can’t give something away that you don’t have to begin with.
“the hour you spend in the gym, makes you a better you the other 23 hours a day”
At first glance, you may feel your time in the gym is selfish – that it’s selfish to work so hard on “you”. But, TRUST ME. The hour you spend in the gym, makes you a better you the other 23 hours a day. You need this. Your kids need it. They need a strong mommy! Your husband needs a confident woman who feels as sexy as your husband sees you. Your friends need it. People are more likable when they feel good about themselves.
Strength goes beyond the gym – WAY beyond the gym. What you do in the gym creates an outward reflection of the discipline you are learning to apply in your life, to control your flesh and not let the world beat you up so you can be the best you you can be. Showing others you don’t have to give in to the Biggie Size temptations of this Biggie Size world. You CAN’T give up! People depend on you. It’s not just about your success, your success has the potential to impact every single one of your friends who are watching you and thinking “if she can do it, maybe I can too”.
YOU are a walking testimony for everything you believe in. It can be a good testimony or a bad one – that’s up to you.
Personally, I want to be a positive reflection of everything I believe in. I don’t want to teach my friends to give up on fitness, marriage, family, goals, career, God or anything else I truly believe in. There are people who depend on my success to motivate them to just even try. I want to encourage people to keep trying and to never give up – and that starts with ME not giving up. Who you can impact starts with YOU never giving up.
The hard work in the gym and kitchen is nothing compared to the victory you will have KNOWING you GAVE IT YOUR ALL, and that your all impacted people around you to give THEIR all. No one will EVER be able to take that away from you.
Now, let’s take things up a notch and act like the STRONG WOMEN I know each of you are! Let’s DO THIS! Can I hear an AMEN!?!?!?! <3
Let’s commit to lifting each other up, helping people stay encouraged and pressing on toward their goal! Lift Someone Up Today! Share this post if your friends need encouragement on their fitness journey! :)
MORE STRENGTH & ENCOURAGEMENT COMING TOMORROW!
The Secret Between Lean & Ripped
Someone recently asked me how to get ripped. I said, “It depends on where you stop”. Here’s what I mean.
The woman who asked that question was already losing weight and leaning out. Whether she gets thin or gets super fit looking just depends on where she decides to stop. She can continue to lose fat as long as she continues her program. While your desired destination can be different than someone else’s, the process is basically the same. The same fit road has many stops along the way. You can stop at 10lbs lost, 20lbs lost or go until you reach super cut and fit.
The problem is, many people quit when they get comfortable. They think, “wow! I really like 20lbs lost. This is a fun place, I’ll stay here for a while and play”. While they are there, they start allowing for more calories – hence, breaking the weight loss cycle.
Another problem is people fall into a false sense of security. They get thin and begin to feel like they “deserve” the extra calories because they are now so fit and active. Because they aren’t as strict during this phase, they quickly lose a grip on how many calories they are really taking in – and before you know it, they’ve plateaued or even gained some calories back. The knee-jerk reaction is to rely on exercise to erase the extra calories, but they will quickly discover it is much easier to eat 1,000 than it is to burn 1,000 calories. Sadly, many people learn the hard way – after they gain some (or all) of their weight back.
Avoid making these mistakes. Avoid missing out on your biggest victory. Next time you feel like stopping, or settling for the results you’ve gotten so far, ask yourself this question: “What if I keep going?” Amazing things happen! “Better” happens! Even if you are doing great now, you can even do better if you keep pressing on. You can continue to improve. You can continue to get fitter, stronger, leaner, healthier. You can be victorious.
Don’t stop short of your greatest victory. Small victories are awesome, but you have even bigger victories awaiting you if you can just keep pressing on!
Does Food Really Make You Happy?
It’s easy to think that freedom makes us happy. We think if we can eat whatever we want, when we want it, that it will satisfy something in us. It will be “fun”. But, the consequences outweigh the pleasure. So then you have to ask yourself “is it really worth having “fun” for 30 minutes, tasting whatever it is that temporarily satisfies a craving, if you are miserable the rest of the day?” I think not.
We would all be much better off if we really looked at what makes us truly happy. Maybe we need to even redefine “fun”. I don’t know about you, but I’m happiest when I am doing the right thing, when I’m practicing self-control and when I’m living a life that makes me proud. I have “fun” when I feel good about myself, when I feel good in my clothes, when I’m confident, when I’m strong, when I feel healthy, when I am comfortable in my own skin. When I feel good, I don’t need food to have fun, life is just more fun.
On the contrary, when I let my eating go out of control, I am grumpy. Nothing is fun. I feel bad about myself, I don’t fit in clothes, I don’t want to go shopping, I don’t want to dress up, I avoid cameras, I don’t want to go to the beach and be seen in a bikini. I hide. I retreat. I pout. I feel sorry for myself. And, I eat. Because that is what I do. Feed my lazy fat sorrows. Then I get fat enough (yes, I can fluctuate 10-15lbs if I let myself) to get mad enough to get back on the wagon and take back control. Then I start having a more lasting fun, a more steady happiness – from just plain out being healthier and more disciplined.
So, while I may not be able to say all my workouts are all that “fun”, and I may miss regular doses of my favorite foods, feeling healthy and getting results makes me MUCH happier than any meal could make me feel for a moment. (Note: I said regular doses of my favorite foods. This means I can still treat myself occasionally but I’m not eating whatever I want all the time.)
It is truly ridiculous that we would let the taste of food or a “fun” food-filled experience ruin the taste of success and becoming our very best. No one thing should have that much power over anyone.
Will I have an occasional taco or pizza! YES, will I let food control me? NO! Food is not the boss of me. I will NOT let it get in the way of my health and my success! Will you?
There Are No Short Cuts to Victory
I can’t tell you how many people have told me “I’ve tried that, and it didn’t work for me”. However, I’d bet you a million dollars they didn’t try “that” (doing it completely properly, by the book), every day, 7 days a week, 30 days a month.
Getting results requires complete honestly with yourself, and the people leading you. It is not fair to say that something didn’t work for you if you aren’t willing to do what you are told.
For instance, I could easily say Spanish class didn’t work for me. I took two years of it and I basically only know how to say “no habla espanol”. Why? Was the teacher bad? No. Should I have gotten a newer textbook? No, that wouldn’t help. How do I know? Because half the class learned Spanish just fine. Why? Because they actually did the work.
I expected the same results even though I chose to take short cuts, skip my reading and practicing, skim through homework and not pay attention in class. And, that’s exactly how people treat diet and fitness programs. Then, when they don’t get the result they wanted or expected, they say “it didn’t work”, or blame the teacher.
If you have done your share of diet or gym hopping, and haven’t gotten the results you wanted, it’s time to get honest with yourself. Did you do everything you were told to do? 7 days a week? 30 days in a row? For 2-3 months straight?
Fitness is work, BUT the reward is SO worth it!
Quit searching for more short cuts – or the next new thing. Instead, commit to applying what you have already learned and know – doing it right this time, 7 days a week, 30 days straight. The results will amaze you!
31 Days of Motivation: Why Calories Count
Wouldn’t it be nice if every food item came with a label on it? If only we knew how many calories were each home-cooked meal, baked good and menu item, many of us would make much better decisions. The hardest part about dieting is trying to guess how many calories are in these types of foods. We tend to underestimate calories when we leave it up to our own guess work. We want to believe certain foods are OK to eat. Then after we talk our self in to believing we’ve made the right choice we expect to lose weight as if our guess was always accurate.
I made a major mistake one time that enlightened me on this very subject. I picked up a low-calorie snack on a recent road trip. I noticed the snack was a little over 200 calories. I wasn’t too thrilled about this since I try to keep my snacks to 150 calories or less but I thought I should bring it in case I got hungry. I found myself picking up the snack while I was driving along, re-reading the package over and over – contemplating whether it was worth it or not. I ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it and would prefer to eat something better later. 
I decided to stop at Starbucks to stretch my legs and refuel my body with a fat-free sugar-free latte. I found myself staring at the pastry case looking for anything that could be the least bit healthy. The store had only one “healthy” item – ‘no sugar added’ banana nut bread (AKA: Cake). I thought that would be an OK choice. Besides, it had real bananas and whole nuts in it which sure beat my processed 200 calorie snack. The bread was larger than my wimpy snack so, even if it had a few more calories, I thought it would be worth it. I love how I try to talk myself into feeling good about my decision, but this was my thought process.
After I ate the snack I began to feel a little guilty, second guessing my choice so I looked up the calories for that banana nut bread and found that my little ‘no sugar added treat’ had over 475 calories and 30 grams of fat!! That’s more calories than an entire lean cuisine meal. I couldn’t believe it! I knew it was probably a little higher than my 200 calorie snack, but I had no idea it was going to be more than twice the calories. In addition I had my fat-free sugar-free latte which was 180 calories so in one quick trip to the coffee shop I had over 655 FREAKIN’ CALORIES! This little boo-boo would probably take me about 6 miles to erase! Ugh!
I am sure I’m not alone here. I hear stories like this all the time in the gym, but mistakes like this can be EASILY prevented. It’s simple: If you are dieting and you don’t know how many calories are in a particular food – DON’T EAT IT. It’s not worth throwing away your hard work in the gym and all your other sacrifices you make to control your caloric intake.
Dieters eating food without knowing how many calories is in it is like shoppers shopping for items that have no prices on them. How in the world are you supposed to know if you can “afford” something or not? How in the WORLD are you supposed to make an intelligent decision if you have no knowledge to base your decision on? You can’t! Like me, you can fool yourself into thinking something is okay for you – but just because you don’t know how many calories is in something doesn’t mean they aren’t there. And, like our poor spending habits reflect on our bank statement – your poor choices will eventually reflect on the scale.
The moral of this story: Know what you are eating or don’t eat what you don’t know – because what you don’t know can hurt you!
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Winning is Not Everything, but Wanting To Is
If you have an goal, there is one thing you MUST have to reach that goal. You have to have the will to win. You don’t need to play sports to be a winner or a loser. You don’t need a goal line to cross, a hoop to make or a time to beat. You have your own set of goals – and the mistake we make is forgetting these goals are very real. Winning and losing is very real to everyone.
Whether your goal is to lose weight, beat your time, complete a marathon, OR your goal is to pay off debt, rekindle a relationship or work on your spiritual life, if you don’t meet these goals there are consequences. Like in sports, you will not go to the next round. You won’t make it to the championships. You won’t be on the front of a cereal box. Why? Because these added perks are reserved for winners.
Non-athletes have perks too. The perk to weight loss is feeling healthy and more attractive. It’s having fewer health issues. It may be getting more attention. It can be enjoying the simply things in life, like playing with your grandchildren, when you once didn’t have the energy to keep up with them. There are perks with reaching other goals as well. But you can’t “expect the perks with out the works” as Joyce Meyer says.
While I can MAKE my boot campers workout, I can’t make them diet. I can’t make them WANT to be a winner. That is something THEY have to decide. But believe me, once that decision is made, once they reeeeeally decide they WANT to be a winner, they will do everything in their power to BE a winner.
You Against You
Your own worst enemy is yourself. The fear of defeat, the fear of unrewarded work. Laziness, selfishness, self-pity, frustration, fatigue and stress can beat you up. Listen, WANTING to be a winner doesn’t mean you won’t get tackled. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever get hurt, struggle, or experience defeat. But without the WANT to win, winning is more like hitting the lottery – it’s next to impossible. And, not only that, the easy route that leads to loss comes with a whole new set of problems and struggles. There will likely still be the same amount of challenges that come with striving to be your best, but many of them will be rooted from not trying. The burden of guilt, shame and failure from not trying will be heavy. So, you decide if you want to take the challenges that come with wanting to be a winner, or except the challenges of allowing yourself to lose hope.
People aren’t BORN great, they are MADE great – with practice, dedication, drive and desire.
People aren’t born great, they are MADE great – with practice, dedication, drive and desire. No one can MAKE you great. They can HELP, but they can’t make you WANT to be great, make you WANT to be better. That, my friend, is only something YOU can do.
So, do you WANT to be a WINNER, or not?
Are You On the Right Track?
In fitness, you don’t just want to stay on track, you want to keep moving ahead! Sadly, there are a lot of people that get on track, make a little progress, and then just stop, for no apparent reason, before they ever reach their goal.
That’s like showing up for a race, running half of it and then just sitting down on the side of the road. Who does that? Well, pretty much everyone at some point in time on their fitness journey. No one in their right mind would do that in a marathon, unless they were injured. But, when it comes to working out, dieting, etc., people do it all the time.
The difference in those last 10-20lbs of fat is just where the person stops on the course. Many times a person thinks “I did great, I lost XWZ pounds and I feel so much better” and they basically go sit down at the 20 mile mark. BUT, if they just kept on going, and wasn’t just satisfied was feeling “better”, they could do amazing and become their BEST. Better is always good, but why stop short from experiencing your best?
Have you become comfortable where you are right now with your routine, weight or diet? Or are you ready to see this thing all the way through and finish this things like a champ?! The same work that you did to get where you are now will keep working to get you where you want to be – as long as you don’t slow down or quit. So, get back on track and get back to moving forward! #livewithfire
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Fitness Feels Better Than Food Tastes
Why are we so quick to forget how bad food makes us feel? We are so quick to remember how great it tastes for a short moment, and forget how yucky we feel for such a long time afterwards. We are fooling ourselves if we think for a minute that there are not repercussions to our poor choices – AND we need to be equally reminded of the positive rewards that follow our healthy choices.
Eating healthy and living healthy lasts longer than your best cheat meal. While you don’t have to give up cake, or never eat a potato chip again, we all need to keep a realistic perspective on our eating and how it affects us long term. We should treat a cheat meal like we treat any other splurge in our life. We enjoy the moment, but we don’t get lost in it. Eventually, we come back to a healthy reality that is balanced in moderation, self-control and discipline.
The same way we come back from a vacation, maybe it’s time to come back from your eating vacation – and get back to investing in a healthier future.
Let’s commit to no longer allow our tongue to rule us and guide our future. Let’s make each word, each bite, each move we make count – doing what is right, healthy and good. And, if we mess up, let’s commit to making corrections. We can do this!
“Their end is destruction, their god is their belly…”Philippians 3:19
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Fitness Motivation: How to Conquer Fear & Doubt
My grandmother told me “never fear in darkness what God has told you in the light”. This statement is a powerful principle to live by no matter how you apply it. Of course my grandmother was speaking of our spiritual life – for all those times we know, we know, we KNOW God has a plan and is in control, yet all it takes is one complication, one pitfall, and we begin to doubt, get afraid, and get discouraged.
In the fitness world, you may have been told all that you can accomplish, and the facts you need to reach those goals. In “the light” (on your good days) your scale may tell you you are losing weight. Your trainer may say you are getting stronger. Your clothes say you are losing inches – yet one day, in the darkness, you can believe all the lies you hear in your head – all the doubts you have swirling around. Will you ever reach your goal? Can you ever change? Are you doomed for failure? Are you an exception to the fitness rule?
Everyone has these thoughts at times, but the people who fail make decisions based on them. People often make the worst decisions in the darkest times. If you think about light and darkness, we use light to guide us – not darkness. Have you ever walked in the pitch dark? Do you run or try to hit an obstacle course? No, you slow down, move cautiously, and try to remember what you saw in the light. And, sometimes, when we can’t figure out where we are, where to go or make out what we are seeing, we may stop and just stay still – because your eyes can trick you in the dark and make you think you see things that aren’t there.
I encourage you, if you are in a dark place right now, whether spiritually, physically or mentally, slow down or just stay still. Don’t make drastic decisions and try to navigate your life when you can’t see clearly. Wait until the light comes again to help you make your next move – because it will.
We all go through dark times. We all have our fair share of doubts and fears, but remember what you were told in the light. Remember where you were headed when you were in the light and, until the light guides you into a different direction, keep moving in the direction you started in – and never let the dark times change your mind, change your plans, or lead you off track. :)
