imprompTuesday - We Upgraded Our Scale

Hello All!

I don't know about you all, but I do enjoy weighing myself on a regular basis.  I know this can be a love-hate relationship and can even be done unhealthily depending on your mindset. My husband and I try to weigh ourselves only once a week to just make sure that we are staying on track, because focusing on the slight adjustments that can happen day to day is just a way to beat yourself up for no reason.

Recently we both hit our goal weight and started having the problem of over focusing on the constant fluctuation of a 1 or 2 lb change week to week. Weight only helps get you so far in your healthy lifestyle journey. So we decided to update our scale so that we could really get a better picture of our overall health, that is why we upgraded to...

Fitness Friday - The Wonder Woman Workout

Hi Friends!

It's been several weeks since I was last able to come here and share some fun information or insights with you all.  Life seems to constantly get away from me and between vacations, traveling, family activities and my active lifestyle it's hard to find time to fit everything into a day.

Getting back into the swing of things, I thought I'd share my current obsession and that is this awesome Wonder Woman workout.  It is a KILLER, but so worth it in the end!  Here we go...


So gearing up for the awesomeness that had to be the new Wonder Woman movie I started nerding out about the movie and our leading lady Gal Gadot. I wanted to know what she did training wise to get ready for the role and found the following video on YouTube:

After watching this I knew I HAD to give it a try!  So I found the workout and here it is:

 

I have officially completed this workout 10 times and have to do this at least 12 more times before the end of September to win my work Q3 Health Challenge.  If I complete it then I get to choose a super hero shirt as my prize. Haha...I love my job!

 

Have any of you given this a try? If not, you should try it out and let me know what you think!  My least favorite move is the backward bear crawls....they are the worst!

 

P.S. In my nerding out about Gal Gadot I found a fun picture she'd posted on Instagram and thought I'd give it a try myself:

 

 

 

imprompTuesday - Foods We Keep on Hand at ALL Times

Happy Tuesday Everyone,

I hope today isn't feeling like a second Monday for you!

Recently I was thinking about how everyone tends to have those staple foods that they always keep on hand. Sometimes these can be very healthy food options, other times not so much.

As I've mentioned before, we have really adjusted our diet over the past few years and now have some healthier items on hand at all times. I wanted to share these items with you to give you some ideas of other items you can have on hand as well (if you don't already keep these on hand).

Thankful Thursday - Being 31

Happy Thursday Everyone!

One day closer to the weekend and a three-day weekend for that matter. :-)

Today I wanted to focus my thankful thoughts on being 31.  I know this might sound weird to some of you, but last year turning 30 had me going through a mini-life crisis. It probably had something to do with the fact that everyone is so focused on their 20's and making the most of their youthful years...and here I was a mother of two not ready for the dreaded 3-0.

Today I have to say I'm happier to be 31 than I was ever happy to be 21 and here's why...

Menu Monday - 5 Tips for Family Gatherings

Hello All,

This week is a strange one for us since we will actually be with family for the majority of Memorial Day and not making family dinners Thursday - Monday!  So this week I'll share our mini menu and then my top five tips for leading a healthy lifestyle with family gatherings and all those tempting delicious foods!

Monday: Pepperoni Pizza
Tuesday: Grilled Cheese Sloppy Joes
Wednesday: Left Overs
Thursday - Sunday: Eating with family

So here are my five strategies for family holidays centered around food:

Fitness Friday - My Step Routine

Hello All,

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to share my personal step routine with all of you, but then I didn't.  I finally got a recording of myself to share with you.  This is what I do on a regular basis and some variations that I'll add in to just help keep it entertaining and help to keep my body guessing what I'm throwing at it.

This really does get my heart pumping and the sweat dripping!  I hope you enjoy and take something away from it.

Thankful Thursday - My Faith

Happy Thursday Everyone!

It's been a while since I've written a Thankful Thursday post and I'm sad to think about that.  We should all find things that we are thankful for every day. Whether it's the beautiful sun rise that you were able to catch this morning or a nice gesture someone did for you.  The more we can focus on being thankful, the more positive our lives will be.

For this revisit, on such an important part in an overall healthy lifestyle, I wanted to focus on my faith and how thankful I am to have it as a core part of my life and my families lives.

Weigh-in Wednesday - 5 Recovery Tips

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Today I wanted to discuss recovery when it comes to all the pressure that we put on our bodies to transform.  So many of us spend the majority of our time focusing on our training plans that we forget the most important element in working towards this healthy lifestyle, recovery.

Giving our bodies time to recover is key in becoming faster, stronger, better and even lose those pesky lbs you've been focused on for weeks, months and even years. 

Here I share my top five go-to tricks for recovering from all the work I put in day after day.

imprompTuesday - My Fitspiration

Hello Friends!

Everyone typically has something that helps to inspire them and helps to keep them motivated.  Something that helps them push towards their goals.  This can be a person, an outfit, a sport, a specific goal, a quote, etc...really it could be anything for anyone.

Well today I wanted to share my fitspiration.  The thing that has seemed to motivate me like nothing else. The thing that, frankly, I've become a bit obsessed with and I'm not even ashamed about it!

Menu Monday - Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken

Happy Monday to Everyone!

Spring time always seems to encourage even healthier eating with the extra delicious veggies and fruits that are available.  I hope everyone is feeling the same way!

This week we'll be enjoying:

Monday: Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken
Tuesday: Chicken Teriyaki Skewers
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Simple Sesame Noodles with Pork
Saturday: Left Overs
Sunday: A friends wedding

This week I'm going to highlight another favorite of ours, Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken.  Click the link below to see the recipe:

Fitness Friday - PictureFit

Hey Friends,

My Fitness Friday posts are not only to share various exercise routines, but it's also a way for me to share exercise, fitness and healthy lifestyle resources that I find very helpful.

This week I'm going to share with you an awesome YouTube channel that my husband introduced me to, Picture Fit.

Weigh-in Wednesday - Workout Apparel and Mindset

Hello Everyone!

This week I wanted to visit a topic that I had a different opinion on towards the start of my healthy lifestyle journey then I do now. The topic is, does your workout apparel affect your mindset when being active?

When I first started my healthy lifestyle journey I would wear a t-shirt and some yoga pants.  It wasn't anything special, but I'd always thought, "Why buy anything special to workout in when you're just going to get sweaty?" I couldn't understand why people would want to spend extra money on a ton of outfits for the sole purpose of working out.

Well today, I definitely have a different opinion on this...

Menu Monday - Taco Pizza

Hey All,

This week our family will be enjoying:

• Monday: Taco Pizza
• Tuesday: Biscuits & Gravy
• Wednesday: Pork Stir-fry
• Thursday: Pork Loin w/Veggies
• Friday: Spaghetti
• Saturday: Tuna Melt Sandwiches
• Sunday: Mother's Day!!

One of our more "guilty pleasure" meals is taco pizza. It's not the worse food we could eat, but not the healthiest either.  If you're looking for a meal that the kids will also enjoy, you should definitely give this one a try...

Fitness Friday - My Current Weight Routine (May 2017)

Hey Everyone,

Today I wanted to share with you my current weight routines that I do throughout the week to help give others some ideas on things they can start doing in this area, or add to the routine they are already doing.

I never was really big into weight lifting until the last year or so, I never really understood the true benefit that weight lifting has on your body...but I do now and I can't seem to get enough of it.  From feeling stronger, seeing more tone to being able to challenge myself in ways that cardio exercises never could.

If you haven't jumped on the weight lifting bandwagon, I highly suggest you give it a try. BTW, I'm not saying you have to lift heavy!  Weight lifting, in my book, includes small weights, resistance bands and body weight exercises.

Ready to see what I do each week? Click below to see my Sat/Mon/Wed and Sun/Tue/Thur routines.

imprompTuesday - Transformation Tuesday (Part Two)

Hello Everyone!

I hope that you are all having a great start to your May so far and are staying warm (especially in areas that have been getting snow at a very unusual time)!

A very happy coincidence happened this weekend and I wanted to share with everyone ANOTHER awesome celebration.  On April 30, 2016 I took a video of my chin-up and pull-up progress.  On Sunday, April 30, I asked my husband to take some video of my chin-up and pull-up progress without even realizing that it was literally one year later.  How crazy is that??!!  I decided that it was a sign that I should share this awesome progress with you all.

Check out my progress videos:

Menu Monday - Roasted Shrimp and Veggies

This week our family will be enjoying:

• Monday: Thai Peanut Butter Burgers
• Tuesday: Grilled Caprese Sandwiches
• Wednesday: Sloppy Joe Corn Bread Casserole
• Thursday: Roasted Shrimp and Veggies with Rice
• Friday: Chicken Cordon Blu Roll-ups
• Saturday: Taco Burgers with Guacamole
• Sunday: Left Overs

This week I'd like to share with you a recipe that Tony and I discovered through Facebook.  The original recipe had a vinaigrette lime dressing and you put the shrimp and veggies over a salad.  However, due to the lack of calories we decided to put it over rice and get rid of the vinaigrette lime dressing because the seasoning on the veggies and shrimp were just right.

Fitness Friday - Improved Physical and Mental Stamina

This week has become a week of celebrations and today's celebration really helps to reinforce a point that I made in a previous post about variety in your workouts.  You see, I'm not a big runner, but I do enjoy going out and challenging myself to a wog (walk/jog) to just see how my training is going in my overall fitness/stamina. 

So today was one of those days, I just felt this need to run.  I went out to the track near our house and just started to jog. The entire time I kept thinking, "If I could just make it to XYZ location, I will let myself walk for a little bit." Then it became, "Well, I'm feeling pretty good...so let's go one more lap." And then another and another.  I just couldn't believe that I kept jogging without stopping.  Since mile 1 was partially walked from my house to the track, I decided if I could just run one full mile without stopping it would give me an accurate picture of how fast I could now run a mile.

Here is what I found out...

imprompTuesday - Transformation Tuesday

Hello Everyone,

I've really missed blogging about something that I'm so passionate about for so long, but we really had a lot going on and not a lot of time to really focus on some fun "extracurricular" activities.

This past week was my one year "anniversary" since I had my husband take some beginning pictures on April 20, 2016 so that I could look back in a year to see how much I'd progressed since making some various adjustments in our life style.  I'm very pleased with the results and wanted to share my progress photos as well as a quick hit list of what I think made such a difference this time around.